The Reengaged
by Rob Sears
Summary: Sequel to The Disengaged. Three years after the Reaper War, Shepard and Tali have gone their separate ways, looking to help their people rebuild what was lost. But, an enemy from their past has returned, and this foe has sworn vengeance against the two for what they did to them seven years ago. Here, twists will be unveiled, love will be rekindled, and wrath will be unleashed.
1. Chapter 1: Dias Irae

_Three years have passed since the Reapers were defeated._

_Commander John Shepard used the Crucible to wipe out the looming threat in one fell swoop during the Assault on Earth, rescuing the galaxy from complete annihilation._

_It is a time of healing wounds and rebuilding what was lost. It is a time of prosperity for the galaxy._

_In that time, many of Shepard's old colleagues, including himself, have moved on with their lives, trying to find their place with no immediate purpose in sight._

_But, there remains one person who has waited all this time, delaying themselves so that they could find their own closure in a plot seven years in the making._

_The peace masks the looming danger that this person brings. They will not stop until they have fulfilled their goal._

_Commander Shepard is the target, and the mastermind behind the scheme is an old enemy from the past, one that had been thought dead and forgotten._

_But that enemy survived…and she did not forget._

* * *

**The Reengaged**

* * *

Serpent Nebula – Unknown System

Private Shuttle Osiris

"A name, bitch!"

The soldier threw his arm out and smacked the bound woman hard. The human's head reeled backward and a small stream of blood flew out of her mouth and stained the ground to her side. The armored man quickly backhanded his captive once his initial blow had finished traveling, propelling her head in the other direction. His two comrades chuckled ominously, their arms crossed over their chests as they surveyed the scene.

All three of the armored soldiers were similarly garbed in the same brushed grey armor. The diodes in their helmets projected aquamarine circles where their eyes should be. Their bodysuits were awash in a tundra camouflage pattern and their survival packs that contained their gear were bulky and bulged a ways out from their body. If anything, they looked a lot like the high-tech death squads that had plagued Europe roughly a hundred years ago during the cyber-terrorism crisis.

The soldier in the middle stepped forward, eying the bound woman apprehensively. "Are you going to give me your _real_ name this time?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he slugged the woman in the face so hard that her jaw broke; a horrid mumble coming from her as speaking became a whole lot more difficult for her now.

"Iris…" she coughed feebly from her smashed lips. "Iris…S-Sego-Segovia…"

The woman had looked considerably more attractive in the beginning, before the mercenaries had captured her, that is. Blood matted her dark hair to her face, her brown skin was marred by slashes and cuts, and she couldn't stop trembling while being restrained to the chair. Her hands were behind the back, electro-cuffed to the other and her gaze was tilted downward, as if she wanted to address the floor.

The soldier talking to her now, however, shifted his posture uncomfortably and stood up in defeat, his arms hanging at his sides. "Shit," he sighed out loud.

"Number…3…0…GH…51…" the woman babbled weakly, her speech not focused on anyone at the moment.

"This isn't working at all," the trooper on the left grumbled.

"_What's_ not working at all?" a quiet voice came from behind the bound woman. All three interrogators looked up to see a silhouette enter the room before the door slammed shut behind them, casting the place into darkness once more. With a slow gait accompanied by a mechanical whirring and clunking, a tall, also completely armored form walked into the only lit area provided by the lone lamp situated in the corner.

Their armor was an intricate and complex puzzle of polished, angular plates. It almost looked insectoid and was quite foreign on the eyes. The majority of the armor, though, was covered up by the black duster the figure had chosen to throw over themselves. The cloth covering draped around their legs, hiding the telltale sign of their bowed calves, making them hard to identify right off the bat.

Their walk was a bit heavier than someone with their average height and weight. Instead of a low thump from the armor, their footsteps were heavier and more forceful, a byproduct of the cybernetic legs grafted onto their body. The metal appendages were smooth and fluid, but they also were powerful enough to crush skulls, jump three meters in the air, and even reach speeds of up to forty miles an hour.

But perhaps the most noticeable thing about this person was the mask that they had chosen to don over their face. Four red orbs, two for each eye slit, glowed expectedly from their positions in a spider-like formation. The covering was a light grey and the face was relatively flat, a small grill hissed from the speech box implemented in the covering. But the most distinguishing thing about the mask was the fact that near the bottom, portions of the armor split away and moved in time to the person's voice. It was not a single piece that moved in tandem to their jaw, but two that pushed away and could be manipulated to emulate emotions humans could identify without much difficulty. In short, they were a set of metallic mandibles.

Grevel stepped to the side of the woman, not looking at the human while the masked turian appraised the three men in front of her. "Two hours have passed," she growled quietly, "and judging by your nervous postures indicates to me that nothing of value has been obtained from this little session." The words felt dangerous because the mask automatically lowered the pitch of Grevel's voice to make her sound more masculine. It worked well for her before and Grevel did not want to change old habits that she knew were successful. "She hasn't said anything useful, has she?"

"Operant Grevel," the third man said stiffly as he motioned towards the human woman. "The captive resisted all our methods for the first hour and fifteen minutes. It's only been in the last forty-five that we actually got her to make a sound, and even then she's given us three different aliases when…_prompted_. She's just not talking."

The mask's mandibles clacked in thought and Grevel wished she had access to some truth serums at the moment. That certainly would make things a whole lot easier. But, instead of complaining, Grevel walked around the woman from behind, staring at her blood-soaked hair as the captive shook.

She stopped next to the woman and glanced back at the soldiers, seeing their insignia glisten back at her from their shoulders. From Grevel's perspective, she could see the light black outline of a tiger imposed on the plates, its jaws bared as it looked ready to strike. Below the insignia, in block letters, was the word CAT6 printed there.

"Cerberus certainly does do a good job in making their agents incredibly resistant to torture, I'll give them that." Grevel mused. "You tested her for any facial explosives?"

"Found none," the first man said. "She wasn't implanted with any of the usual booby traps. Odd, I'd say, considering that the majority of Cerberus operatives are usually loaded to the brim with explosives. Perhaps it's an indication of this woman's importance?"

"Not…" the woman gagged in her position. "Not…Cerberus…"

Grevel blinked, waiting a few seconds to let the silence sink in before she responded. "Not Cerberus, you say?" she chuckled as she knelt down, facing the woman's right side. "Tell me, if you don't belong, or ever belonged, to that terrorist group, then why did we catch you in a vehicle registered to Cerberus? How come you are wearing Cerberus armor? And why do you have a Cerberus black project _sitting in your cargo hold?_"

The woman only coughed, bubbles of blood frothing at her lips. Grevel peered at her in disgust before she leaned over to catch a glimpse at the other side of the human's face. The diodes on her mask pulsed in a blink before Grevel stood up and wrenched the woman's head so that the men could see it.

"You slashed her cheek," Grevel stated, not in an interrogative manner.

It certainly was the barest description that she could say at the moment. The human's cheek on the left side of her face had actually been carved in a half-circle, and the hanging flap of skin had folded down her face. The top and bottom portions of her jaw, teeth gleaming white, were clearly visible, just like a representation from an anatomy book, and blood completely coated that side of her face, dripping down her in a red torrent.

The men did not flinch at the sight of the wound. The second one just shrugged. "Yeah, I did that," he admitted. "Got a little frustrated with her after she proved to be quite uncooperative."

"Yeah," the first man bobbed his head. "I also did her legs too, but she still never uttered a single intelligible word. She certainly is a tough bitch to crack."

At the very mention of legs, Grevel stooped down to look at the prisoner's legs only to find that there weren't any midway below the calf. Stained red and orange bandages were wrapped around the woman's stumps and the severed limbs slowly leaked blood from where they lay. Grevel looked at one of the legs and saw that the edges were blackened, like someone had held it up to a roasting fire for too long.

Standing back up, Grevel adjusted her coat before she turned back to the men. "From what you've indicated, after you cut her legs off with a laser saw, making sure the wounds were cauterized so that she wouldn't bleed out, and slashing her cheek completely open, she _still_ did not say anything of use?"

"Nothing," the first man said in disgust. "The woman has been stubborn as a rock the whole time."

A grunt went through Grevel's mask. "Or maybe it never occurred to you that she _has_ nothing of use to say to us, yes? Maybe we don't need to hear what she has to say because we already _know_ what she's going to say."

"That's a definite possibility, but I'd say it's a bit above my pay grade for me or any of us boys to make that decision on our own. I just hurt people. I don't think we would know if there was another aspect to this whole encounter."

"You catch on quickly," Grevel chuckled before she moved over to the desk behind the men. Knocking aside a few spare tools, she grabbed a long screwdriver and quickly slid back over to the woman. With a cold precision, she slowly slid the tool into the woman's ear, stopping after it only went in an inch. The captive whimpered but said nothing else, choosing instead to remain mum.

Grevel looked up in satisfaction. "You see? She knows that her life hangs by a thread and yet she chooses to do nothing to save herself. That either tells you two things: that she is keeping a secret, or she has nothing to say." The men were standing straight while listening to Grevel, hung on her every word. Grevel basked from the attention for a moment before her mask's mandibles rose in a grin. "But unfortunately for her," she patted the shoulder of the woman, "she has no secrets to keep from us."

Grevel's hand moved to the other side of the woman's head, holding her in place while her other hand rose before it savagely swung downward. Her palm impacted straight on the screwdriver, driving it through the woman's eardrum and straight into her brain, causing an instantaneous death. Blood burst from the destroyed ear and began to dribble out. The human's mouth slackened and drooled as all neural activity ceased. In seconds, the corpse in the chair was now slumped completely over, stone dead, the screwdriver still hilted in her ear.

"Come with me," Grevel said, abruptly turning away from the woman's body and back toward the door. The men complied with her, following the turian out into the hallway of the tiny ship and down a cramped stairwell. They passed through a sliding door before entering the hold and stopping in front of the lone object positioned there.

There were two other men analyzing the object, along with a third figure who remained silhouetted against the eerie green glow it gave off. The three mercenaries who entered with Grevel hung back while she walked up to the smaller figure, easily standing a head above them.

Grevel peered through the liquid that the glass cylinder housed and looked at the stirring object within. The tank contained a humanoid figure through the murky liquid, one who feebly twitched as if they were in the throes of a dream. The body was hairless and muscular, one Grevel recognized instantly.

"Cerberus really did leave nothing to chance," Grevel pondered out loud before she turned to the two technicians. "Did you find anything about why this…_thing_ is here of all places?"

One of the technicians checked his omni-tool before responding. "Best we can come up with is that the woman who took this vessel was intending to open the pod up soon before we interrupted her. Guess Cerberus wanted to take all the precautions by allowing _this_ to come into existence."

Grevel nodded once before she looked at the small person standing right next to her. They were rapt with attention at the figure housed in the nutrient tank, watching them stir with the flow of the liquid. Grevel watched their posture go unchanged for almost a minute before choosing to address them.

"Tell me, what do you see in the tank?"

The figure leaned closer and Grevel could see their eyes squint a little. "A…man," they said. Their voice had an electronic tinge to it that Grevel found eerily familiar but drove her misgivings into the ground as they continued. "A…_human_ is in that tank. He looks familiar but I can't make out his features."

The mandibles on Grevel's mask parted in a smile. "_He_ is whom we are going to kill, the man in the tank. But this is not the same man. This is merely a _clone_, confined to this tank until it has fully matured or until someone cracks it open."

"A clone…" the smaller figure murmured, their eyes blank with confusion. "So…this is a clone of-"

"-_Admiral John Shepard_," Grevel said with finality. "Correct. Cerberus, in all their wisdom, had created a clone of the human in their quest to control the man himself when he proved to be a hindrance to their objectives. Apparently, they utilized it too late since Cerberus has now been dissolved for years and this clone has remained dormant as a result."

"Interesting," the figure considered. "But what does this mean, exactly? A clone of Shepard could be useful to the plan that we have in place. It actually might make everything a lot easier for us-"

Grevel shook her head with a low chuckle. "And what would happen afterward? After we have dealt with the real Shepard, we still would have to contend with his clone. No, we don't need it. The galaxy doesn't need _another_ Shepard. It will just have to contend with the one, for now."

As she was saying this, Grevel moved away from the figure, who still stood in their spot, to the side of the nutrient tank. At the control panel housed on the side, Grevel typed in a series of buttons until the screen spat out:

ORDER:/SHUTDOWN [ARKP51 –r] – SYSCANC 10:32 FRCRBT

PROCEED? Y/N

Without any hesitation, Grevel tapped a key and a slight whirring sound was heard, like a generator powering down. The lights on the tank dimmed abruptly and the human suspended in the tank began thrashing for a few seconds before the lack of oxygen caused him to pass out. On the auxiliary panel, Grevel watched the clone's heartbeats grow fainter and fainter until they flattened out completely. There was no noise to alert anyone, no shrill wail that blotted out any other sound, just a flashing icon on the screen denoting the deteriorating status of the person inside.

As the clone perished before their eyes, the room was filled with silence, except for Grevel's stomps as she strode out of the cargo hold, followed briskly by the smaller figure that had been present for the entire ordeal.

* * *

Apien Crest – Trebia System

1.5 AU away from system's center (by Palaven's standards)

The two fleets sluggishly moved toward one another, their intentions less than friendly. Each side positioned amongst the other held over two hundred ships, all crawling amongst the stars. The winged shape of the turian frigates seemed to be gliding through space while the blunt, heavy human cruisers powered on through, their engines operating at maximum thrust.

The area around them was completely devoid of life for millions of miles, but a few minutes of FTL travel could put them in the middle of one of the most populated planets in the galaxy, oddly enough. Still, space was big, and there was plenty of room to go around.

The two sides may have only been hundreds of thousands of miles apart, but the gap was being closed quite rapidly with each second. The stillness of the void could be disconcerting and everything, from the outside, appeared quite calm, as if two huge armies were not about to confront one another. The calm before the storm was amplified by space's relative silence. It was just the reverberations that the ships picked up that produced the illusion of there being any sound to accompany any outside stimulus.

Suddenly, with little warning, the ships leading their respective pack broke away at a diagonal heading, putting them above their foes. The rest of the fleets made similar maneuvers in that they seemed to organize themselves into a haphazard formation, one intent on spearing through the lines of their enemies. They positioned themselves to and fro, adjusting themselves so that their guns had a clear line of sight on the nearest frigate. Not waiting for another moment, they began firing in earnest.

A good distance away from the carnage, John Shepard, Admiral, stood in the war room of the SSV Normandy, surveying the results on the holomap in front of him, which projected each and every ship with their orientation in real time. Opposite from him stood the current Primarch of Palaven, Adrien Victus, an old comrade from the Reaper War and a personal friend of Shepard's.

Shepard wore the standard dress blues as befitting his rank. He always felt that the uniform was too restrictive but he was painfully aware that he was no longer a soldier but a marketing tool now. All he did was shoot a bundle of wires on the Citadel, wound his ass up in a hospital for a month, and suddenly his face was plastered over every billboard in sight.

The publicity was tiresome. Shepard never really liked the limelight before and he certainly was dreading it now. For the first two years, he had been bombarded by requests for interviews, most of which he declined (the ones he accepted were merely standard participation ordered by the Alliance) and it was only recently that the interest had become to dwindle.

His face had gained quite a few age marks in that time. His crow's feet were now more evident and there were a tad more stretch marks lining his cheeks, making him look at least ten years older. He actually felt _fifty_ years older, believe it or not. All the stress from running, gunning, and being gunned has quite an effect on the body. To this day, Shepard still wondered how he had survived so much crap when any one of his exploits would have killed anyone else.

People said he was lucky. There were days when he definitely didn't feel lucky, that was for sure.

In the war room, Shepard and Victus said nothing to each other as each of their ships catalogued their hits and misses on the board, the experience a lot like a very specialized video game. Within moments, one of Victus' ships flashed and turned red. A casualty. In the next minute, two more of the Primarch's ships followed suit while only one human ship registered that they had fallen victim to the guns of the turians.

"Hmm," Victus mused as he leaned over the map. "Your captains adhere to their commands well, Shepard."

Shepard smirked from the compliment. "Don't give up so soon, Victus. The exercise isn't over yet."

"True," the turian nodded. "But I will remain skeptical until definitive proof arises of victory for the turians. After all, we know human resiliency better than anyone else in the galaxy."

If one were to look out a window and spot the four hundred-odd ships engaged in their deadly dance, they would probably be confused as to why there was a distinct lack of gunfire amongst the warzone. There was no wreckage to be seen or anything denoting any damage whatsoever. The absence of havoc was the result of the invisible beams the ships were firing at one another, infrared lasers that pulsed from the guns instead of missiles or plasma. These lasers were programmed to represent different weapons and reflected back to the source if they hit an object, causing the ship that fired the laser to register a hit on the enemy, which in turn would send an alert to the enemy ship that someone had hit _them_. This was all done instantaneously and helped indicate which ships were theoretically "destroyed" or "operational," based on the sensitivity of the areas hit.

Space was a big place and the isolated area of the engagement made it so that the two sides did not have to worry about their mock weaponry causing false hits on civilian craft, a moon, or a planet. The two sides just carried on with their maneuvers, trading false blows with the other. If a ship registered too much "damage," they would carefully break off from the group and loiter in a safe spot until the exercise had concluded. One key omission from this was that no fighters were being utilized in order to carefully monitor the interactions between the capital ships. Also, fighters had much more significant dangers to worry about as they were small, fast, and filling the combat zone with thousands of them would just create more objects for them to fly into. Therefore, they were sitting it out this round. Truthfully, this made the exercise a bit less realistic, but after staving off their death three years ago, safety was key in everyone's mind at the moment.

On the board, Shepard watched one of his heavy cruisers dive underneath its equivalent in the turian navy. Having been positioned squarely underneath its unarmed belly, the cruiser fired and the turian ship quickly flashed red on the board. Disappointment radiating off of Victus, the turian sighed as he watched. Like the others before, the "dead" ship ceased all fire and moved to the protected quadrant so that it wouldn't interfere with the simulation.

Occasionally, when Shepard would spot an advantage, he would type the commands out (they were preset so that he wouldn't have to waste any time actually writing them out) and send them to his ships that he wished to follow his orders. Victus, merely a bystander, just watched.

Shepard's military equivalent, who was aboard his own ship in the midst of the "fighting," was doing an admirable job in keeping the humans at bay, but his defensive formations were quickly being overrun by the more aggressive humans. More and more red flashed on the map, the majority definitively on the turian side. Shepard didn't allow himself to feel cocky just yet. Turians very rarely gave up a fight.

Four more hours passed and it was clear that the pride of Shepard's foes was still heavily engrained in them, having lost over three quarters of their forces while the human fleet was still over half strong. They still refused to falter, mounting up a strong defense even though their strength was slowly getting whittled down. Still alert at his post, Shepard eyed three of his ships approaching the turian capital vessel at speed and commanded them to make a triangle formation in three dimensions so that it couldn't escape and that any crossfire would be limited.

Instantly responding to his orders, his ships accelerated and quickly surrounded the capital ship. Before the turian commander knew what was happening, his cruiser was suddenly being bombarded on all sides and he was effectively trapped in his position. The turian cruiser could only concentrate on one ship at a time, not all three, and effectively floundered for a second before the infrared pulses finally registered too much damage and the ship flared red on the screen.

Shepard grinned at the tiny victory. This would certainly shake things up in his favor.

Without their commanding officer, the rest of the turian fleet scattered aimlessly, lost and confused. Without any clear direction, they found themselves unable to coordinate with the rest of the ships, unable to regroup in defense. In response, all of the human ships flew back into one large formation and effortlessly moved forward, concentrating all their fire on one ship at a time, a huge clump of metal hurtling in one direction. In minutes, the turian ships were being felled almost inconsequentially, as if it took no effort on the part of the humans to eliminate their foe.

Victus grimaced for a second as the final turian ship filed their status as a total loss before he shook his head and walked over to Shepard, offering his hand.

"Congratulations, Admiral Shepard," Victus nodded respectfully. "Despite your humility, I had a feeling the game would be over as soon as our side registered the first hit."

Shepard accepted the hand, shaking it firmly. "Careful, Primarch," he responded with a smile. "If you keep flattering me I just might assume that you gave us this win."

Victus laughed. "You are certainly very perceptive, Admiral, but I doubt General Kylrus would appreciate me trying to cover for him when I happen to _know_ that he did his damnedest out there today."

"I'll be sure not to tell him that, then."

The turian's initial weariness had dissipated by now, to Shepard's relief. Victus was a whole lot more looser with this exchange, as well as the fact that they had no real war breathing down their necks at the time. It was merely a benefit that the extra security of living could afford.

"Hah! Although if he had lost to a different opponent, I'd be willing to bet that he would be in a much angrier mood afterward. Right now, I'd reckon that he is in a state of glum acceptance now."

Shepard raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not gloating, Primarch. That's the point of all these war games, right? To detect and address faults in our strategies so that we can be ready for anything else that comes our way. It isn't exactly a competition."

"Our competitive spirit does have a way of revealing itself from time to time," Victus remarked sagely. "And you're assuming that there is still something out there, Admiral. More Reapers, perhaps?"

"After all that has happened," Shepard sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "I'd rather not take any chances."

"Neither would I," Victus agreed. "In any case, we'd better invite the command staff over to recap the exercise and trade our strategies soon. How long do you think that will take to accomplish, an hour?"

Shepard checked the time on his omni-tool. "That sounds about right. It will certainly take that amount of time for everyone to get organized. We'll all meet in the conference room then. I'll make sure that we have enough chairs set up."

"Excellent," Victus said. "I'll see you then."

As Victus walked out of the war room, Shepard began to mindlessly plunk at the keys in front of him, opening up a wealth of statistics recorded from the game. He tried to concentrate on some of the more important data points but all of the numbers began to blur together. He rubbed at his eyes, the gradual decline of tension made him feel drained, like he was about to keel over.

There was a coffee pot at his back, one implemented there at his request. Shepard grabbed a disposable cup and poured himself a generous amount of the murky liquid. Taking a sip, he winced as the coffee burned his tongue and promptly set the cup down to wait for it to cool.

Minimizing the statistics, he sent out a burst message to the commanders of the fleet out in the system, inviting them to rendezvous with the Normandy for the end of match discussion. He closed the text box before he could see if anyone had replied or not and began considering what he wanted to do for the next hour.

It took a few minutes before he took a hearty swig of the coffee again (this time it was at the perfect temperature) and headed over to the CIC, and towards the elevator located on the rear wall. Once inside, he punched the button for his personal cabin and walked in seconds later. He twisted the shower knob and waited for it to heat up by checking his personal messages in the meantime.

At the moment, he was not in a mood to converse with anyone, that and the fact that there was no one on the Normandy anymore that he really _wanted_ to talk to right now, sans Joker but he was busy with his duties. Opening his console, he filtered out all of the spam before he checked for himself that he had received no correspondence from anyone. Zero worthwhile messages.

Concern lining his face, Shepard sighed before he walked back into the bathroom, stripping off his clothes before he stepped into the spray. He stood in the scalding water for two minutes, letting it drip down his scarred body, before he pronounced himself reasonably clean and shut the shower off. He grabbed a towel and walked back out with it wrapped around his waist, looking out into his spacious cabin, with the fish tank quietly gurgling in the background. It was home to him, but for years now, it always felt strangely empty to him.

_She always made this place worthwhile, _he thought instinctively. The comparison had been painfully obvious for years.

Biting his lip in regret, Shepard sat back down again at his desk and opened his console again. He activated his mail application and indicated that he wanted to compose a new message. In the recipient box, Shepard typed in the letter "T" and selected the first name that showed up on the screen.

The tiny little cursor began to blink in the body of the message. Shepard cracked his knuckles and set them down appropriately on the keys, ready to type. He looked long and hard at the screen, envisioning what the receiver's reaction would be to whatever he was going to say right now. He hoped they would respond just as emphatically as he would, showing that he wasn't being a fool for nothing. In his mind's eye, he imagined joyful surprise and a longing from looking at the words he was about to type.

But his fingers merely remained perched on the keys, depressing nothing. Shepard's mouth was a long line as he kept on drawing a blank internally. So many things were rushing into his head that he had no idea what to say. Would it be appropriate to include everything in one message or should he split his meaning into several successive messages?

Why couldn't he convey exactly what he wanted to say to her?

_I have everything I've ever wanted. Except you._

Frustrated, Shepard closed the message application and abruptly stood up out of his chair, pushing it aside so that he could get dressed for the upcoming meeting.

There would be another opportunity for the words to come later, he reasoned.

* * *

Migrant Fleet – Hourglass Nebula

Liveship Shellen

The door to the cabin opened and Tali'Zorah stepped inside, relieved at having an opportunity to rest after being up for almost eighteen hours. She yawned loudly in the cramped room, shuffling over to her tiny desk so that she could finish up a few administrative things before she took a few hours to sleep.

She opened up her console and began typing mindlessly. Being an admiral of the Migrant Fleet was much different than being a simple mechanic. No longer could she tinker with machines anymore for she had the power to order others to do such menial labor. Still, she occasionally took the time to play around with a few odds and ends she collected from various locales scattered across the galaxy. That curious side of her hadn't been stamped out yet.

In the middle of a sentence, Tali began tugging at her dark purple hood absentmindedly while glancing down at her black and gold bodysuit. She had taken to fidgeting a lot while typing as the act itself was still relatively foreign to her. That was the one thing no one warned her that her promotion would entail: the endless paperwork.

Tali signed a few requisition orders, using her ship name as _vas Shellen_. The liveship was one of the biggest vessels in the galaxy built by organic hands and the fact that she was now its captain was almost hard to believe. It had taken half a year after the conflict had ended for the Conclave to recognize her achievements throughout the Reaper War in order to officially assign her a post instead of having her title stand as a mere formality. Fortunately, the former captain of the Shellen had just resigned, intent on retiring to Rannoch to live out the rest of his days with his wife and child. The recent opening was just the perfect opportunity for the new admiral. All it took was a few scraps of documents to sign and Tali suddenly found herself commanding one of the most important ships in the fleet, one of the fleet's three liveships.

Sometimes she would rather have wished that she got the Rayya under her command, her birth ship, but she had learned long ago to be grateful for what she was given. Besides, commanding a liveship was one of the noblest professions in quarian culture as they were responsible for growing food to feed the millions of quarians still living in space (farmland on Rannoch was still being cultivated). Not bad for someone who had almost been exiled for treason.

Interestingly, her new station provided a huge source of confusion for Tali. She was rather bemused to learn that her culture had a bit of a flaw regarding their place of residence in their names. Technically, her full name was Tali'Zorah vas Shellen, but she also happened to own a plot of land back on the homeworld, the exact spot where she had stepped on the planet for the first time. By that logic, she sometimes referred to herself as Tali'Zorah vas _Rannoch_, but grew ever more bewildered at what to do with the technicalities. She had to remind herself for the umpteenth time to check up on quarian law so that she could solve this conundrum.

No wonder outsiders found quarian culture to be so foreign. Even _Tali_ couldn't understand it half the time and she was a quarian to begin with.

She finished up her missives and closed the console, gazing around her small room before she sat down on the small bench that was her bed and proceeded to get a bit of sleep. But she still felt wide awake for some reason, like there was something she still needed to do that was on her mind. Tali grumbled as she fidgeted on the bench, looking back at the console expectedly. Was there one more notification she needed to write? One final order before she could sleep?

Whatever it was, it was on the edge of her mind but she could not grasp it. Sighing, Tali checked her omni-tool and did the arithmetic in her head, figuring out that it would be fifteen minutes until the jump towards the Citadel would be underway and a six hour long journey to the relay would begin. Napping that whole time would be _great_ for her. She barely got enough sleep as it was. Now desperate for some shut-eye, Tali considered running over to the medic's office to procure a sleeping aid but decided to stick it out here.

_Just a tiny bout of insomnia_, she reasoned. _That's all it is._

Tali folded her hands over her chest and twiddled her thumbs. Since she still was conscious, she was painfully aware of how _lifeless_ her cabin seemed. She had been living her for almost three years now but no matter what she added to it, small tapestries, assorted mechanical objects, she still could not shake the utterly _cold_ notion she got from the room.

Of course, she knew exactly what the problem was. It would only take but a moment to correct her problem. All she had to do was go back to her console and type out a series of words that made sense to her. It sounded easy, but the reality made it much harder because Tali had no idea what to say.

Tali adjusted herself on the bench and supported her head with her arms as she looked up at the ceiling. _John_, she thought. _What can I say to you? When will I get to see you again?_

It had been months since she had last corresponded with the human and two years since she last laid eyes on him. Their respective duties had completely wiped out whatever time they had for interactions outside of their jobs. Were they both just not ready to abandon their people? Was her need for him overshadowed by her need to the fleet? Was he experiencing the same problem, caught at the same crossroads?

Tali sighed a curse and turned on her side, slamming her eyes shut so as to cut off her intruding thoughts. _There will be another time_, she assured herself. _There will be a time when you will see him again. Things will be different. I know that things will be-_

As her eyelids relaxed, she cracked them open just in time to see a black form squarely seated at her desk. Through her hazy vision, she could glimpse the edge of a dark coat, powerful arms, and an ivory and grey colored mask, one which had an artificial jaw that began to smile at her…

Startled, she sat up, heart racing, to find that she was still alone in her cabin. Anxiously, she glanced at the door and saw the locked icon blinking back at her. Putting a hand over her heart as if that would help slow its pulse, Tali slowly breathed out in relief as she decided that it was just another fabrication that her mind ruthlessly provided.

_It's been seven years, Tali_, she told herself. _Seven years and you still believe that Grevel's alive when you know John put her down back on Anhur. Seven years…Keelah, I'm so messed up._

Turning herself to face the wall, Tali begrudgingly came to terms with the fact that this was just going to be another sleepless night. Making a bitter noise, she willed her thoughts to turn to Shepard. Thinking of the human always put her mind at ease. Always had.

Lying on her bed, Tali considered for the millionth time if she had made a terrible decision by being here. If her and Shepard had thrown their previous obligations aside in order to be with each other, would they have regretted it? Could they possibly have done such a thing, even though their people desperately needed them, now more than ever?

Assaulted by questions, Tali grew more and more concerned the longer she remained awake. She had no answers and there was no indication that they would ever be solved, that she would ever be fully healed.

But there were a lot of things that Tali'Zorah did not know.

* * *

_**A/N: Couldn't keep my damned hands off the keyboard for very long, could I? Borderline addiction, that.**_

_**Anyway, I've been working on this chapter for a few days but I have to warn you that my work schedule is going to make updating very challenging as I'm going to be doing a lot more travelling over the coming weeks. Therefore, keep your expectations somewhat reserved when I fail to post anything more than 1 chapter per week.**_

_**This is a bit of a gamble for me because I've had worse experiences with sequels to my stories in the past. Hopefully I can clear that hurdle this time.**_

_**A few notes to start off with: just in case anyone is confused with the timeline, since The Disengaged, Shepard spent two years dead, roughly a year fighting the Collectors, about a year and half after that fighting in the Reaper War, and spending the other three in his new command position: equaling seven years.**_

_**Also, before any of you freak out, Shepard and Tali are still on very good terms (I'm going by the fact that they actually did form a relationship in the games), this isn't an angsty piece like Interval of Calamity. Their separation will be fleshed out a little but it has to do with the fact that both of them dearly miss and still love the other, and that there will be no unnecessary hatred in order to tamper with any emotions. (I can do that in so many other ways, though!)**_

_**It's a different start out to the relationship the two have with each other that I've written and I've got a few ideas to keep the experience fresh and exciting. And with Grevel lurking in the background, who knows what will happen?**_

_**...well, I do, but that's beside the point!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Gruff Old Men

For a few quick seconds, the only sounds in the conference room were the squeaking noise that the chairs were making when their occupants began reclining. Other than that, there were a few muted taps of fingertips on data slates and an occasional sip of whatever from an army regulation mug. The atmosphere was not at all awkward, just that everyone was taking the time to study the information obtained from the last few hours so that they could analyze and interpret it.

Shepard glanced around the table as he sat in his position, closest to the door. Primarch Victus was on his immediate right and another turian was on his left. In all, there were four humans and four turians making up their meeting and each individual sat interspaced with another officer of a differing species. That was all Victus' idea and one Shepard eagerly agreed to. Such careful positioning would eliminate the biases of the past and would encourage cooperation instead.

One of the few things the war had been good for, it seemed.

A few more minutes passed before Victus broke the silence, placing his slate directly in front of him as he leaned forward. "Now that everyone has gone over the major points of the exercise," he began, "I'd like to start us off first by providing a brief overview of what I witnessed today." The turian took a furtive glance at his still active slate before he continued. "It appears that once again I have underestimated the capabilities of humans, both militarily and psychologically." He flashed a knowing look at Shepard. "You'd think I would have learned by now."

Shepard gave a tiny shrug to that while Victus carried on. "Admiral Kylrus," the Primarch stated to one of the turian brass seated opposite him. "I did happen to note that your fleet had been spread out thinly enough for the humans to pick you apart quite easily near the end. I'm assuming you read the briefing on human tactics beforehand which mentioned that they like to group their main battle fleet which makes their combined firepower all the more focused?"

The turian that had just been called out did not show a sliver of shame at being beaten. His attitude, strangely enough, was one that had been carved a deep impression into it. Kylrus did not seem to be bearing a grudge and was all the more willing to learn. How fortunate for him.

"Yes, Primarch," Kylrus nodded as he studied his slate closely. "I failed to realize in time that the humans were initially replicating salarian tactics of spreading their fleet out in a thin web to cover a greater surface area. I do note that after I gave the order for my ships to answer their maneuvers, the humans quickly regrouped into their main battle fleet which proceeded to decimate our forces." He shuffled his hands awkwardly for a bit. "And by then, it was too late," he added hastily.

A human to Shepard's left, a Rear Admiral Dasher, smirked. "Remember, Kylrus, I prefer the _eighteen-_year old scotch."

"Yeah, yeah," Kylrus sighed as he set his slate down. "Remind me that when I'm facing you again, we're _not_ going to be betting on it."

The whole group broke out in polite laughter. With a tight smile, Kylrus simply raised his mug of the stimulant turians were so fond of and took a careful sip of the steaming liquid, most likely to hide his expression.

Shepard, after he finished chuckling, looked at Kylrus thoughtfully. "You mean that you two had a bet going on over who would win the exercise, admirals?"

"Nothing like a little incentive to make ourselves work harder," Dasher shrugged and Kylrus nodded. "But in all seriousness, it's a little tradition we started during the Reaper War over who got the most kills. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to carry it on."

"Oh, you two already know each other?"

Dasher nodded. "Met Kylrus here on Menae, back when he was only a commodore. We got a little cocky one day and bet each other whose fleet would down the most ships in a skirmish. It got…ah, hell. I'm going off topic now, aren't I?"

"You _interrupted_ me, is what you did, Dasher," Kylrus clarified lightly, prompting more quiet chuckles. "Anyway, the quick responsiveness of the humans is what caught me off guard and the strength of their ship techniques were well utilized that our fleet couldn't make any significant damage until it was too late."

"Which resulted in your likely painful death," Victus added drolly before he scratched his mandibles. "You're not fighting the Reapers anymore, admiral, but an opposing force that's just as intelligent as you that operates through precision and smarts. You're going to have to resort to tactics and strategy again, not just relying on brute force to hammer through the front lines."

"Yeah," Dasher said. "While the Reapers had their 'decimate all' strategy, it was definitely a moment of clarity when we realized what we had to do. Everyone just threw away all notions of military training overnight in favor of speeding towards the enemy with the intent of watching them burn. We're just flexing our unused muscles again, trying to make everything work."

"And that is why these drills are so important," Shepard added. "Now that there are no more Reapers, we don't need to be all gung-ho with our ships and crew anymore. We need to be coordinated and firm again so that we aren't lax when the next hostile alien force comes knocking at our doorstep."

"Understandable," Kylrus nodded.

Shepard swiped his finger a few times on his data slate before he got to the data he wanted. "From what I could see, Admiral Dasher," he started, "it looked like initially you sent a forward advance force out ahead of the main fleet of about a dozen ships. Was that to gage the strength of the enemy at the time or was it for another purpose?"

"No, sir," Dasher shook his head. "It was to test the strength of their armaments. I figured that I could afford to send a few ships out and take a couple losses in order to properly analyze what kind of foe I was dealing with."

Shepard gave Dasher a concerned look. "So you willingly 'risked' lives in order to perform an initial recon?"

"We weren't using fighters, sir, so I was unable to send out the kind of patrol I initially wanted, but the benefits outweighed the costs in my mind with using frigates. Recon _had_ to be performed at any rate, sir."

"Well, I'm sure an adequate recon could have been accomplished with the utilization of only a single light carrier, not a dozen capable warships. Remember, Rear Admiral, the goal is to spare as many lives as you can, not to take as many lives as you can."

Dasher's face fell slightly but he understood perfectly well. "Got it, sir," he replied as he checked his slate again. "I'll make sure to remember that."

"And one more thing," Shepard indicated. "When grouping for the final push, you had some of your captains struggling in getting to their formations and were destroyed as a result of their dawdling. You might need to look at the list of reaction times here and coordinate with the captains I've highlighted so that you can understand why they failed to react in time to their orders."

Dasher scrolled down to the table Shepard was talking about and gave a satisfied nod. "I'll be sure to get right on that," he promised.

Victus adjusted himself in his chair. "Before we continue, is there anything else that is on anyone's mind?" When no one spoke, the turian tapped a few keys on his omni-tool and a holographic representation of the skirmish engaged over the desk in the conference room. Timers and hit point counters scrolled by in the corner in real-time, slowly climbing with each passing second.

"Well, then," Victus said as he activated the playback, watching the holographic ships begin to move toward the other. "Watch what happens next, because we'll be making notes as we go."

* * *

Three hours later

The front of the cockpit was awash with the familiar blue glow from FTL travel. Space hurtled past the ship in ripples, tiny imperfections in the passage of time. FTL travel was all built on theoretical explanations anyway, so the proper reasoning for why this state could be achieved was still physically impossible to explain fully. If there was a scientific explanation for why this phenomenon occurred, it hadn't been written yet.

The tinny sound emanating from the speakers was getting louder the closer Shepard approached the cockpit. Even from here, he could make out the Normandy's pilot fiddling at the controls that picked up whatever radio signals the ship could find. Incredibly, many of the frequencies were still relatively audible, although the music that floated through had a distinctly foreign sound to it, occasionally interrupted by the static that came with the switching of the channel.

"_Youuuu are my angel-"_

_Bzzt!_

"_-I'm the one with the bullet, I'm a power pl-"_

_Bzzt!_

"_-The sparkle in your eyeeeees…keeps me aliveeee-"_

When Shepard approached the pilot's chair, the man seated at the controls glanced over his shoulder momentarily before he shut the radio off altogether. Tapping a control, the chair spun around to reveal Joker, the Normandy's reliable pilot, the last member of the original crew.

"Admiral Shepard," Joker said in a serious voice.

"Wing Commander Moreau," Shepard answered in kind.

Joker grinned at that. "It's been two and a half years, Shepard, and calling me 'Wing Commander' hasn't gotten old one tiny bit. You know I hate to brag but I personally think it sounds a hell of a lot better than just 'Admiral.' Actually, it has the potential to sound like the title to an obscure video game. _My_ rank, I mean."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that industry hasn't run through that name yet," Shepard shrugged. He pointed at the copilot's chair, which was empty at the moment. "Mind if I join you, Joker?"

"Please," Joker gestured. "It's your ship after all."

"Doesn't mean that I can't ask," Shepard defended as he sat down on the leather chair, hearing the cushion hiss when he pressed his body into the surface. "Perusing the radio stations to keep you interested in your spare time?"

Joker gave a snarky laugh. "Yeah, if you can call the crap they actually put out 'music.' I got a snippet from a transmission that was saying that the year was 1999 at the time, and almost two hundred year old music _really_ does not hold up well nowadays. I swear, every time we're in deep space, we have to be subjugated to this kind of abuse that our predecessors thought was actual audio entertainment."

"No one's forcing you to listen to the radio, Joker, especially not from stations around at the turn of the millennium."

"I know, but sometimes I just get a hint of optimism to stick it out for once with the thought that maybe it won't be so bad and every time I'm consistently disappointed."

"In yourself or the music?"

"Both," Joker sighed bitterly, causing Shepard to chuckle. The slim man frowned for a second before his features softened. "Ah, well. Shame on me, right? Anyway, enough of my griping, how did your meeting with turians go?"

"They were gracious in defeat," Shepard admitted. "They left our ship in astoundingly good terms, considering that we trounced them today, and that's putting the overall outcome mildly. Either the war hammered out their brusqueness or the turians have developed better poker faces in three years' time."

"Imagine that. In thirty years we've gone from being mortal enemies to best buds. Speaking of which, is that turian councilor continuing in singing your praises back on the Citadel?"

"Sparatus?" Shepard asked. "Yeah, he's exhibited quite the one-eighty in his attitude as he's not made a disparaging comment toward us humans in years, it's true." He stretched out in his seat. "I only had to save his ass _twice_ for him to get the message, though."

Joker snorted at that. "Well, if he starts getting tetchy again, I'm sure you could always make a move to campaign Garrus for the position of councilor in his stead. With someone of your status you surely have the capability to pull a lot of strings. Imagine, your very own puppet turian politician! There's no way that Garrus wouldn't agree with everything you order him to do."

"Three problems with that, Joker," Shepard laughed. "One, I have no need for politicians in my life anymore, since I'm now a 'tentative Spectre' at best. Two, Garrus no longer operates under my command so he's not required to listen to me at all. And third, that turian is enjoying his retirement way too much to even consider taking a job again, much less going into politics."

"Lucky him. _He's_ lounging around on the Citadel and _we're_ stuck on the same ship, doing the same old shtick."

"You're telling me you want out now, Joker?" Shepard scoffed. "Well, why didn't you say so? If you can just give me a few minutes to get the necessary paperwork-"

"Har har, really funny, Shepard," Joker said sarcastically. "I'm the one with the bad jokes here. And is it really that easy for you to see me adjusting to civilian life on a dime? You really think retirement is what's in my immediate future?"

"I don't know," Shepard admitted. "Do you think you can see _me_ retired as well?"

Joker opened his mouth a crack to say something but swallowed his words before they had a chance to be formed. Biting down, he gave a tiny shake of his head, to which Shepard nodded in satisfaction.

"Yeah, Joker," Shepard sighed. "That's exactly it. I don't think we're going to retire anytime soon. Frankly, we're in too deep at this point to retire at all. I can't imagine what I would do if I were to get out the next day, believe it or not. Unlike Garrus, who seems to be just loving life right about now."

"Pfft," Joker blew air out of his mouth in an attempt to wipe away his shaky thoughts. "I wonder what _his_ version of retirement is like. I can see Garrus smashing up a couple crime syndicates in his free time, or working to amass the largest gun collection in the galaxy, or even wooing all the ladies on the Citadel just to satisfy himself."

The both of them looked at the other for a while before they started cracking up, their peals of laughter echoing down the narrow hallway of the ship. Joker slapped his knee lightly a few times before he could control his breathing. "Oh man, I couldn't even say that last one with a straight face."

Shepard wiped tears from his eyes from laughing so hard. "When I heard the part regarding 'Garrus' and 'ladies,' that was just it for me. That man is hopeless when it comes to women in general."

"Said the ladies' man of my captain," Joker muttered which caused Shepard to roll his eyes. "What, Shepard? It's true you know!"

"Joker, I haven't had a real conversation with a woman in a long time. I mean, who do we have left on this boat that I can talk to? It's not like I can walk up to a random noncom and strike up an awkward conversation with them, can I?"

"Then it's a good thing we're getting some shore leave, right? I mean, come on Shepard, people go to the Citadel all the time to meet new people. Hell, if Liara is still working there, why not hang out with her for a night?"

Shepard turned his chair so that he was looking straight at the pilot. "Liara?" he said in an exasperated voice.

"Yeah, _Liara_, Shepard. You know, blue asari, she's the Shadow Broker now, has those rigid tentacles on the back of her head?"

"I know, I know," Shepard snapped. "I'm well aware of who Liara is, Joker. It's just…I don't think I can see her."

"Well," Joker considered, "I know that she's busy with her information broker work but I'm sure that she can afford to get away from her desk once in a while to meet up with an old friend."

"No, no, no," Shepard corrected. "I know that I _can_ see her. It…I don't think that I _want_ to see her."

"If not Liara than who-" Joker's mouth hung open midsentence as he finally put two and two together. "Oh…_her_."

"Yeah," Shepard sighed. "_Her_."

An uncomfortable silence washed over the cockpit, seeming drowning everything in a void of noiselessness. Joker tapped his legs a few times while glancing surreptitiously to the side. The thin man sighed noticeably before he raised his head to speak. "Is it all right if I speak frankly, Shepard?"

Shepard narrowed his eyes a little but softened his expression very quickly. "Go ahead."

Joker threw up his hands a little in exasperation. "I lied when I indicated that I couldn't picture you in retirement, Shepard. Fact of the matter is, I think it's what you deserve…what _both_ of you deserve."

Shepard sat stone-faced, his pursed lips a fine line as Joker leaned forward. "Shepard, I'm not saying that what the two of you did was wrong, but I remember you telling me once that the things we do for love is worth a little stupidity. You remember that, don't you?"

The admiral sighed and raised a shaking hand to eye level before his index finger pointed at the pilot. "Now Joker…" Shepard stammered. "If you're going to blame me for-"

"I'm not blaming you for what happened to EDI," Joker said softly. The words were gentle but they still stung Shepard. "I know that you did what you thought was right, what you had to do. I didn't see that at first, but I've come to accept it. And you know that EDI would have wanted the same thing, she would have thought that her sacrifice so that we could live would have been worth it. And that brings me to my next point." Joker leaned forward in his chair. "Shepard, everyone who worked on this damn ship knows that you still love Tali. I mean, hell, you two were inseparable for all the time you knew each other. You want my personal opinion? You don't owe anyone anything now. You don't _need_ to still be in command of this ship; you don't _need_ to engage yourself in these incredibly dull drills. You've earned a reprieve, so why not talk to Tali and settle down someplace? I'm not telling you to go get hitched or anything, but it's clear that you're much happier when you're with her and the fact that you've done so much has given you the right to bow out. There's nothing shameful with that."

Shepard gave a tiny smile as he saw Joker begin to build up a sweat along his brow. "And what about you?" he asked the pilot in a mild tone. "You've been at this just as long as I have, Joker. Surely, you've also earned the same right to retire just as much as me."

"Maybe," Joker conceded. "But I know that you have something outside all this-" he started to gesture outside the ship, "-that is proper motivation for you to leave while you still can. Me, I'm a pilot. I have nothing out there to drag me outside my bubble. Even when I had EDI, she was still part of the freaking ship so I was always going to be tied to it anyway. But this isn't about me, Shepard. It's about what is best for you and I know that there is someone waiting for you, giving you an excuse to be rid of this life."

"You really think I want to quit this life?" Shepard whispered.

"Shepard, no one _sane_ would want to be a soldier forever. The ones that go career, they're the guys who have nothing waiting for them on the other side, poor saps with nothing to lose. Is that really what you want to be in twenty years' time? Old, greying, and sitting behind a desk?"

Shepard reclined, letting his body relax a bit while he considered Joker's words. With a thoughtful nod, he shifted a little in his seat. "Well, you know that Tali has her duties to her own people, being an admiral of her fleet as well. What if she doesn't want to quit _her_ life?"

"If that is her final choice, then no offense, but Tali won't have ever deserved you."

Shepard's face was impassive for a while before he gave a grave nod. With a subtle wave of his hand, he stood up from the copilot's chair and took one last glance at the FTL streaks outside the window before addressing Joker one final time. "Just let me know when we arrive at the Citadel." Without waiting for another word, Shepard hastily departed the cockpit.

The assistant on duty looked to see the admiral heading in her direction but Shepard ignored her, focused instead on reaching the elevator in the back. Once he had reached the floor of his cabin, Shepard strode inside and stopped at the head of the small staircase that lead to his bed, his hands on his hips as he surveyed his room. Everything was always so neat, so tidy, so unbelievably well positioned that he inexplicably started to feel a little lightheaded, his sinuses feeling rather stuffy. He tugged at his collar to cool him down, but found that something beating within was heating him up to the point where it was becoming rather uncomfortable.

_You made a mistake, John._

Something needed to calm the animal. It was consuming too much of him. It was like a ravenous hunger was pooling up in his chest, making him tense as he let his thoughts drift back to Tali.

_You let her go, John. Why did you not stay with her?_

His face was turning red and Shepard started to tear off his jacket, throwing it to the ground where it crumpled into a puddle, but the heat persisted. It clung to his skin, soaking him in sweat as his conscience continued to berate him.

_If you loved her, why did you leave?_

Without warning, Shepard thrust his arms out to his desk and furiously swiped them to the side, sending a stack of papers cascading to the ground. The animal in his chest roared in triumph but it was still not done feeding. Angrily, Shepard kicked over his chair and tossed a data slate into the corner, hearing the edge of it crack on the wall as he continued in his self-destruction.

His hands groped at the shelving on the wall but stopped at the middle shelf that contained his pet hamster. Instead, he blinked in a moment of clarity so that he could grasp at the lowest shelf and tug on that, sending folders and medals spilling downward instead, further pleasing the engorged animal.

_I'm so sorry, Tali. I'm sorry that I'm not with you now._

Still not satiated, Shepard, in his rage, grabbed the bust of Sovereign that he kept to the side of his console. Right now, the squid-like model looked like it was alive, its appendages undulating and wobbling slightly. In disgust, Shepard chucked the tiny statue into the bathroom, where it collided with the brushed metal wall and exploded into a hundred pieces. Frustrated, Shepard wheeled about and headed back toward the bed but not before he punched the wall several times, leaving impact marks with a few blood splotches.

As he neared his bed and nursed his bleeding hand, Shepard turned his head about as he looked for something to destroy that wasn't going to cost him a whole lot of money to repair. Even in his little episode, he still maintained a relatively miserly attitude. Finding an object to displace quickly, he kicked at the ottoman, upending a chess set that had been perched upon it, causing the pieces to tumble in midair. His foot throbbed as it collided with the heavy object, causing him to limp and yell out in pain.

_Joker was right. Why did I think that this was the best thing to do?_

Alerted by the noise, his alarm system started to ring incessantly, a constant noise that pained Shepard's ears. Drawn to the discomfort and the creature's roar in his mind, Shepard plucked the little object from his nightstand and tossed it to the side.

But, Shepard had not been aiming properly when he had casually thrown the alarm. It spun several times in its journey through the air to impact precisely on the metal lamp on Shepard's opposite nightstand, which toppled the precariously perched object to the ground. However, the base of the lamp slid a little bit, catching the edge of a frame that had already been placed face-down on the stand, sending it clattering to the floor.

At the very hint of the frame hitting ground, the roaring in Shepard's ears stopped and the stifling heat ceased. With a shaky head, Shepard immediately hurried over to the other side of the bed to see that the frame had fallen and cracked somewhat, the image projected upon it blaring in and out in a fizzle of static. Shepard elicited a strangled gasp as he picked up the frame and headed over to his console in the corner. Using the tightbeam projectors on the backside of the frame, he held it up to the console and ordered it to draw all data from the frame to his workstation.

Fortunately, the data was not corrupted and transferred through just fine. Shepard breathed out in relief as he set the cracked blank frame down on the desk and tapped a key on his console to bring up the files that had been carried over. The second the image box popped open, Shepard knelt down as the smiling face of Tali'Zorah filled the screen, an old picture of her with her mask off.

Shepard laid his arms on the desk and rested his head upon them in his awkward kneeling position. The picture on the screen showed the grey-skinned quarian, her black hair a tangled mess, lying on her side in Shepard's bed. The covers had been pulled up to her neck and her eyes drooped slightly, as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep. But she looked extraordinarily happy for her gaze was so filled with love towards the person who took the picture that it caused Shepard's own eyes to fill with a few tears.

He remembered the day he had taken the picture, for the memory was so clear to him. Shepard had just woken up from his sleep to find Tali dozing peacefully next to him, and in that moment she looked so beautiful to Shepard that he just had to capture the moment so that he could recall it again and again. He had given the picture to Tali, of course, and she had sent him the frame so that he wouldn't have to pull out his omni-tool every time he wanted to see a picture of her.

Looking at the photo now, Shepard sighed in his position and shifted his arms slightly. In the process, his hand slipped and brushed a key, blowing the picture away and revealing a larger album comprised of five more pictures. Shepard stared at the data in shock. All this time the frame had contained more than one picture? He cursed himself for being such a fool for years, having never known about the precious memories that had been previously untapped. Eagerly, he clicked on the next picture in the album and watched it spring forward.

This one depicted Tali sitting up in his bed, still unmasked, and her smile was so genuine it seemed to light up the room from the screen. Shepard surmised that she must have taken pictures of herself when he was in the shower or otherwise indisposed, giving her a few moments of privacy. He clicked from one picture to the next, watching Tali change her orientation slightly, never showing anything but her face, her smile never wavering while her glowing eyes continued to pierce right through him.

The last picture was a surprise for Shepard. It showed Tali gleefully embracing him on the screen, both of their eyes closed in bliss (he guessed that Tali must have taken it in the split second his eyes had been shut). Shepard looked at his digital counterpart and painfully noted that he seemed in the photo to be quite happy, embracing his quarian lover tenderly. He then looked at Tali's own expression, seeing her gleaming white smile spread as far as it could go across the screen as she strangled Shepard in a hug. Shepard laughed at the pair, wishing that he could go back in time and replay that moment for himself.

He stared at the picture for another minute before he noticed a caption at the bottom. He focused his eyes for a second before he read the words printed at the bottom of the photo: "_I love you_."

Young, foolhardy, and in love. It was probably the ten millionth time that Shepard damned himself for being such a bitter idiot. If he only had known what he left behind. If he only had known.

* * *

Citadel Archives

The room was bare, poorly lit, and contained only a single chair. Grevel never needed much of anything in her life. She had always maintained very drab and simplistic lifestyles, a facet she had been trying to improve when she had met Sophie all those years ago. As it was, Grevel rested in the chair, her eyes semi-closed, part of her brain remaining alert while the other part dozed, the closest she ever got to experiencing a complete sleep.

The lone door in front of her steadily blinked green, the only portal to the outside world. It was just lucky for Grevel that this place had such a room for her to encase herself in, her dealings with people always tired her out. She fully realized that her sociopathic tendencies would probably entertain a psychologist for years but they were her problems to bear at the moment. There were more important things at hand than healing her broken mind.

The door itself led to the bowels of the Citadel Archives, an immense hub of sensitive and important information collected from all corners of the galaxy. If Grevel were to march outside, she would see the CAT6 mercenaries hard at work positioning crates of ammo, restocking weapons, adjusting cover positions, and accomplishing many more tasks. The Archives themselves were not monitored due to the hush-hush nature of the materials enclosed there, and people rarely visited. Only Council members and Spectres were allowed, and the latter hardly ever made trips here just to take a tour of the premises.

Besides, the sheer size of the facility meant that Grevel and her mercs had all the privacy they could ever want. And with all of the twists and turns this place actually provided, it was the perfect spot to launch the first stage of her operation.

Back in the room, her eyes snapped open instantly and she activated the dock schedules for the station in her helmet. The breathing grill hissed as she exhaled, automatically making the pitch way lower than her real voice. It had been calibrated to sound similar to the last helmet, the one she wore on Anhur. This new helmet she felt was less expressional, but it certainly did the job it was meant for. Finally retrieving the information, she blinked and smiled as she saw that the docks were expecting the two ships to arrive at the Citadel within the next day. It was nearly time, now.

Grevel tapped her fingers on her legs, feeling dull vibrations echo up them. There was only a clinking noise as they only felt metal, not flesh, and Grevel grimaced, unseen to anyone else. How she had wanted to tear out Shepard's spine when she had the chance. She had been so close to him five years ago. She was still on the ship back on Hagalaz when the cursed human, accompanied by his wretched quarian, infiltrated the base of the Shadow Broker. If the Broker himself had not ordered her away, she would have sprinted towards the commander, intending to repay him back in kind.

But that was not to be. The Broker _had_ sent her away, but with a contingency plan that he had set up long ago. Grevel resented the fact that she had followed his orders that day, because she knew that if she stayed, the Broker, the one who saved her from her torment, would still be alive. It only took a few whisperings for her to figure out that Liara T'Soni, a former lover of Shepard's before he went with the quarian, had taken on the mantle of the Broker, conquering the throne from the conqueror.

She had fled into deep space, just her and this abomination the Broker insisted she bear. Grevel considered purging the dark project outright in disgust but deep down, she knew that it would come in handy one day. She just needed to be patient, just like the Broker had told her.

And so Grevel waited. She bunkered down when the Reapers invaded the galaxy, carefully covering her tracks so that she would not fall victim to their snares. She had monitored the events of the war however she could but could not stop herself from scowling every time the exploits of Shepard were announced to the public. The man was becoming more and more of a hero with every passing day and she could do nothing about it. She had been in a state of mental conflict for the entire year and a half the war had raged. On one hand, she remained impatient at why the Reapers hadn't been defeated yet and on the other hand she wished that Shepard would get himself killed by the gargantuan organisms in the fires of battle. Of course, that would have taken the pleasure of ripping the human's heart out away from her, not to mention that she would most likely have fallen if the Reapers had not been destroyed before they could find her.

With the Reapers' defeat, Grevel could turn her thoughts back to the near future and come out of hiding. The opportunities for her were now limitless without the threat of galactic annihilation breathing down everyone's back. She could now focus on killing the man who left her for dead back on Anhur, just like how the vorcha had left her for dead too and how she eventually came back and slaughtered them all.

Grevel certainly did not consider forgiveness to be her strong suit.

It took three years for just the beginning of her plan to come to fruition. The fact that Shepard and Tali were in different locales complicated the agenda somewhat, so Grevel had to account for that in her outline. It just so happened that everything would all line up soon with their coordinating of schedules and the opportunity to strike would be well upon them.

Also, Grevel knew that she would not be able to do this alone, and thankfully the Broker had continued to provide. Using old communications channels, Grevel got in touch with an outfit of guns-for-hire which many of their members had worked for the Broker in the past. The CAT6 group had conveniently been missing a clear direction for months and when Grevel stepped in with a monetary offer that could not be refused by anyone with half a brain, CAT6 agreed to Grevel's terms immediately. In the time leading up to now, Grevel had been utilizing them in a few operations on the side, to test out their capabilities in combat. To her satisfaction, they were passable in terms of technique and skill, which was more than could be said for any of the batarians back on Anhur, useless creatures that they were. CAT6 at least had discipline and a margin of self-control. There were a few occasional bouts of disobedience, but once Grevel stepped in to sort out the disagreement with a dose of unbridled violence, everyone began to learn not to question their new commander anymore.

_Not too much longer, now._

In her chair, Grevel stood up swiftly, her legs whirring and hissing from the sudden movement. Rolling her neck to iron out the cricks, she strode out the door and onto the walkway overlooking the Archive floor. From her position, she could see troops milling about, stacking crates, and readying themselves for battle. Catwalks snaked around the facility like a jungle gym. Huge cylindrical storage tubes were crammed into every orifice that could be gleaned in the space, and a thin fog hung overhead, caused from the humidity that the presence of CAT6 had provided.

Grevel smiled underneath her mask, feeling the artificial mandibles part to reciprocate the movement. With a pleased sigh, she turned to the side and saw a slim, lithe figure stand at attention, their hands behind their back.

"Just the person I want to see," Grevel said smoothly. "Have you been monitoring the situation at the moment?"

"Which one?" they said in a brisk and thoughtful manner.

"Give me an update on the troopers."

The figure gave a singular nod. "All squads are reporting combat effectiveness at a seventy-five percent average. Twelve more hours should theoretically boost that up to eighty-five. All the equipment is functional and ready to be deployed and the developed pathways you have requested have been set up in the exact specifications."

"Excellent," Grevel growled. "And the status on our…_guests?_" It wasn't so much a question for Grevel's benefit, but to make sure the person speaking across from them was fully invested in what they were about to do.

"Admiral Zorah's ship has just entered the system and will dock with the Citadel momentarily," they replied, their answer spot-on. "Admiral Shepard will arrive two hours after and dock in the same sector, but two levels down."

"And are you fully prepared for the part you will play in their downfall? Do you know exactly what you have to do?"

"I do…_commander_," the figure said as they dipped their head in respect. "I am completely ready for the task you have set for me. I will _not_ fail you."

Grevel did believe the person's statement. They weren't being brash or arrogant, they were genuinely confident that they were going to succeed in their operation. But Grevel still was mistrustful about the cool and collected exterior that this person exuded. This was probably a good opportunity to see if she could find any more chinks in their armor.

Grevel stepped forward, drawing herself up to her full height as she towered over the person. Her mandibles parted in a snarl but the figure did not flinch. "All right, then," she growled. "Let's hear it one more time. Tell me what you will do when the time comes and see if you can convince me that your performance will be flawless. Describe to me…_everything_."

As the person began to recite their part and actions verbatim, Grevel could not help but smile.

_Not much time left, Shepard._

* * *

**_A/N: I fully realize that although radio signals travel at the speed of light, the ability for the Normandy to pick up signals from 1999 at such a great distance is dubious at best. If you are a physics major, I apologize, but I liked the dramatic intent regardless._**

**_The songs that Joker derides (in case any of you are interested) in order are: "Angel" by Massive Attack, "Back in Black" by AC/DC, and "She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult. All songs that I like, from an unfortunate standpoint, but it's funny to write characters to hate the music that I like. Usually, I'm not a big fan of inputting current songs into fics that take place in the far-off future, but the whole idea came from a comedic throwaway line that Joker made in ME2 so there's some precedent for it._**

**_I'm hoping that my schedule calms down enough for me to get some work done over the weekend. Judging by how some events are culminating in this story, I'd guess that most of you will like the next chapter a lot._**

**_More pressure on me not to screw up, huh?_**


	3. Chapter 3: An In-Depth Reunion

The Citadel – Docking Bay C32

Rubbing at his blurry eyes, an aftereffect of a restless sleep, Shepard yawned as he strode back into the cockpit, wondering what had prompted Joker to call him down here in the first place. Shepard felt that he could at least have afforded a couple more hours to try to attempt to doze off without anyone knocking on his door; theoretically the his efforts to do so should have been easier now that the Normandy was docked and everyone had departed by now.

Shore leave always was anticipated among the crew and an excuse to spend a few days on the Citadel before rotating back into the daily grind was more than enough incentive for everyone to sprint off onto the gigantic station once the ship attached. Only Joker had stayed behind to perform a few last-minute preparations for the retrofitting crew and Shepard had been passed out at the time of docking, explaining his tardiness in participating in any leisure.

But before he could reach Joker as he strode through the narrow hallway, the pilot turned around in his chair and held up his arms in a defensive posture. "I know what you're going to say," Joker said quickly, "but I thought that it would be the right thing to do if I told you right off the bat."

Trying to stifle another yawn, Shepard nodded blearily, waving a hand to interrupt Joker. "Spit it out, then," he sighed as he watched the man trip over his own tongue in excitement. "The way you're acting, it's like someone lit a bomb underneath your seat."

Joker grinned. "Well, everything will be clear soon. It's just, after our conversation yesterday about you-know-who, I wasn't going to say anything else, but…"

Now starting to get annoyed, Shepard sighed. "But _what_, Joker?"

Giving a tiny chuckle, the pilot just pointed upward with his index finger, indicating for Shepard to look through the skylight out at the station overhead. Shepard raised his head and squinted past the glare of the nebula as he struggled to find what had gotten Joker so riled up. He scanned the station above, watching the lines of traffic move in an orderly fashion, the tiny shuttles slicing effortlessly through the encroaching fog when he spotted a large object that had latched itself to the station.

The bulbous ship instantly registered on him, for there were only three in existence that he knew of. The spherical front positioned outward from the thin engine base at the back as the center section slowly rotated, an old method of creating artificial gravity dating centuries ago. What Shepard then found on the ship was a familiar wavy insignia, denoting the name of the ship in question, and more importantly: who it belonged to.

It was the _Shellen_, Tali's ship.

Looking back at Joker in astonishment, the pilot gave a gleeful shrug. "Speak of the devil, huh?"

"Yeah," Shepard breathed as he unconsciously began to rub the back of his head. "Something like that."

With a playful cock of the head, Joker tapped a control at his chair to turn him back around to his controls. "Just thought you should know, Shepard," he said in a sing-song voice, deliberately leaving the man to his own thoughts, albeit the ones planted by him.

Wanting to spit out a playful curse at the man, Shepard instead blew air out of his mouth before he snuck away so that he was out of earshot. Feeling like his legs were acting of their own accord, Shepard walked through the war room to reach the communications console on the other side, his heart beating ten times faster as he pulled up the appropriate contact info.

It had been a few years, he reckoned, but this was the chance that he had been waiting for. All that moping would not have been for nothing after all. The both of them surely wouldn't pass on this opportunity if they had knowledge of it, right? He was so stupid! Why hadn't he looked to see if their schedules coordinated at all? Then Joker wouldn't have gotten the jump on him and he wouldn't have made an ass out of himself in his room earlier in his despair.

He just prayed that she wasn't indisposed at the moment.

The icon on the panel told him that the call was going through right now and that the hardware was anticipating zero lag with its current capabilities. Shepard leaned against the guardrails, hoping that the contact information had not been altered and that he wouldn't be speaking to a krogan prostitute due to a directory mistake. That would be quite an unfortunate mishap as well as devastating to his psyche. To have her be so close and that he couldn't reach her…

With a crackle of static, Shepard breathed out hopefully and his eyes widened as the holographic crystals created a jumbled image at first before resolving into a graceful form, one draped in a form-fitting enviro-suit. Their bright eyes slowly blinked from behind their visor and their body language was slow, timid, but every sense in Shepard's body was yelling in triumph that she was standing in front of him, as a hologram but it still counted to him regardless.

Tali's form peered at him and blinked in recognition. "J-John?" she gasped.

Giving a grateful grin, he nodded. "Hello, Tali," he said as he tried to muster the shakiness out of his voice. "It's good to see you."

If Tali thought that Shepard wouldn't see the joyful little hop she gave through the hologram, she was sorely mistaken. "John, how are you?" she said quickly. "I'm…I'm sorry that I haven't been able to talk with you for a while, but you've caught me at a good time now. You see, I'm on-"

"-The Citadel," John finished for her, internally anticipating the moment.

Tali tilted her head in confusion. "Yes, actually. How did you know I'm on it?"

Shepard now laughed and looked away mischievously. "That's actually a funny story, Tali. You see, not a few minutes ago, I happened to look up from my skylight and wouldn't you know it, I happened to spot a ship the exact make that _you_ now command, complete with the same insignia no less. And I thought to myself that it would be amazing if you happened to be here, on the-"

"-Citadel," Tali now completed as she clasped her hands over her vocabulator gleefully. "_Keelah_, are you serious? You're actually _here?_"

Shepard laughed as the quarian was practically bouncing on her toes through the hologram. "Technically I'm still on my ship but that's beside the point. Knowing that you're close by has put me in a really good mood and I guess I was just wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat with me while we can catch up with each other's lives. You know, like old times?"

"Absolutely," she replied with no hesitation. "Do you have a place in mind?"

"There's a nice restaurant on the fourth level of the Wards called Exeleren that has food for everyone. You want to meet up there in a half hour?"

Shepard could tell, even through the digital projection and through her visor, that Tali was grinning like a kid trapped in a candy store. "I'll be there, John. It will be wonderful to see you again."

"Same here," Shepard said and both waved goodbye to the other as they simultaneously cut the connection. Shaking with relief, Shepard breathed out a low laugh to the sky before he checked the time on his omni-tool, setting an alert twenty-five minutes from now just as a reminder. Now realizing that he was not really dressed in the right attire for a place like Exeleren, he fingered his rumpled clothing for a second before he turned around and practically sprinted back to the elevator in a quest to procure a nicer wardrobe as well as splash some water on his face.

Joker was still monitoring diagnostics on his screen when he heard footsteps on the metal grating a few minutes later. Glancing over his chair, he grinned when he saw Shepard, dressed in a nice shirt and pants, walking toward the airlock door. Their gazes locked for a second which broke when Shepard smiled and sighed, "Smart-ass," under his breath. With a confident gait, he strode out the door and left Joker to his own devices.

Lightly laughing at the turn of events that had transpired, Joker simply grinned before he reclined in his chair, enjoying the feel of the leather wrap around his body.

"Told you so," he gloated to himself.

* * *

Truthfully, Shepard had never been to Exeleren in his life. He just knew about it from the dozens of times he had walked past the place when the Reapers were still around. It had looked nice enough and was advertised that it catered to every species, even quarians.

Shepard felt that he was pushing things by not calling ahead of time to reserve a table, but maintained an over-inflated sense of optimism as he approached the venue. Reuniting with an old and very good friend was overpowering any doubts in his mind, so there was that to consider.

Remarkably, there was no resistance from the staff from his impromptu arrival as he was whisked away to a table almost at the exact moment he had a foot in the door. Perhaps he discounted the effect his presence would have with the management and before he knew it, he found himself seated on the private second floor, overlooking the bar area through the windowed wall. The lighting was dimmer and more intimate here and all of the tables were draped with fine cloth. Pretty big upgrade from a food court, he had to concede. Apparently saving the galaxy still came with a few perks now and then. Shepard grinned as he toyed with the idea of getting a hefty discount or potentially getting the entire meal comped.

Now drumming his fingers on the table, he had been seated for less than five minutes when he heard a shuffling noise on the carpet behind him. He looked over, expecting the waiter to be asking for his drink when a lithe form stepped around the corner and into full view.

Their posture was timid, their movements a little jerky, but Shepard had the same feeling he did when he first met her all over again. Dressed in a sleek suit that denoted her status among her people, she gingerly stepped forward, approaching the table slowly.

Instantly, Shepard stood up, almost knocking his chair over, and closed the distance to the person. Their arms held out, the two of them swiftly met and eagerly embraced the other in the room; the feeling like a dam had burst inside each of their chests – flooding them with happiness and relief. Tali buried her visor into Shepard's shoulder as he rested his cheek on top of her helmet. For a moment, the only noises were from the two's labored breathing as they struggled to hold their broiling emotions in. After a few seconds, the pair parted, giving only enough room for them to gaze upon the other once again.

"God," Shepard breathed as he tenderly stroked the side of Tali's helmet, his other hand at her waist. "I missed you so much, Tali." _I…I don't have any other words…_

"I missed you too," she whispered, sounding a little choked up. Shepard could feel her trembling through her suit but could not tell if it was from joy, nerves, or both. Her hands groped at his arms, as if she was testing that he was really in front of her. "_Keelah_…it's been so long, John."

"_Too_ long," Shepard clarified with a warm smile. He looked at the suit that Tali had chosen to don: black and gold with a metal crown that made up the front portion of her hood. She looked a bit more regal than he had remembered her, but those eyes behind that smoky purple visor contained the same loving gaze that he knew since they first met. Despite her appearance, she had not changed a bit.

Tali was also noting with some amusement the clothing Shepard had decided to wear. "You look good," she said, trying to come up with a line that didn't sound too awkward. "I…I mean that I've hardly seen you in anything other than military regulation uniforms before. I think it suits you very well."

"Well," Shepard eyed the ceiling mockingly. "You have, on a few occasions, seen me wearing nothing at all, if I recall correctly."

"You _bosh'tet_," Tali laughed, giving his arm a slight pat. "All this time and you're _still_ terrible." They now strode over to the table and quickly seated themselves across the little table, unconsciously scooting all the way forward so that they would be as close as possible to the other.

As if he had been watching the whole thing, a salarian waiter promptly came up to the pair before they could continue and after he lit the candle in front of them, he asked if they wanted any drinks. Shepard blinked as he was caught off-guard before he considered his order.

"Scotch and soda," he said.

Tali quickly grabbed the drinks menu and scanned it for a few seconds before she asked for a glass of Palaven wine. The waiter wrote down their order and quickly shuffled off, leaving the two alone again.

"So…" Shepard started as he brushed his fingers along the table, suddenly finding himself at a loss for what he wanted to say. "I know that it's been a long time since we last talked and for that I want to apologize, Tali. It's just-"

He stopped as he saw her hold up a hand, indicating for him to say no more. "I'm going to stop you right there, John," Tali said, her voice unnaturally stern. It was the voice of a confident leader, John realized with a tiny hint of pride. "I know you well enough that you're going to try to accept all the blame in us not talking for a while but you are fully aware, as am I, that the responsibility does not fall squarely on your shoulders this time. I'm not going to let the first words out of your mouth today be ones of a self-destructive nature, John."

Shepard smirked as he watched the waiter arrive with their drinks. After they were placed and the salarian had retreated, he eyed Tali thoughtfully. "If you're contesting that _you_ shoulder that responsibility instead of _me_," he countered, "then I'm afraid I'm going to have to voice my protest on that one, Tali."

Tali just shook her head with a tired laugh. "Oh, John. Still the same stubborn-headed human. I'm just saying that you shouldn't blame yourself for everything. I mean, we both had to know when we chose our paths on what this would entail for us."

_I don't think I ever considered how deep the problem would run, actually_, Shepard thought but he nodded in acknowledgement.

"I guess I just underestimated how busy our lives would be thereafter," Shepard sighed as he spread his hands, gazing forlornly at the flickering candle in the center of the table, watching it ebb and flow with the tiny draft. "Still, I should have made more attempts to talk to you, Tali. I mean, why wouldn't I? What we both had, it shouldn't have ended with us just drifting apart like that. I just would have liked to have more time to talk to you and now…"

"…And now things are like this," Tali added somberly. "But I should have made greater strides to communicate with you as well, John. I guess, after I tried calling the Normandy several times in succession for a few weeks and getting nothing but empty receivers…I-I guess I thought that seeing you would get more and more unlikely with every passing day. Truthfully, I never expected that being an actual admiral instead of a figurehead one would involve so much work."

"As did I. I can no longer manage my old routine that I did in the old days. Now, I have to communicate with people all the time and go through multiple channels to get simple decisions done. It's been a sobering experience, to say the least."

"Life was easier when you were a Spectre, huh?" Tali asked as she played with her straw for a little bit before she inserted it into a slot at the base of her helmet, sucking up a small portion of the red wine.

"I still am a Spectre," Shepard said. "But my duties to the Alliance have been taking up too much of my time that I can't run errands from the Council anymore. Still, being a Spectre means that they can't fire me unless I do something incredibly dishonorable. So, that's something I haven't screwed up yet."

Finishing with her sip, Tali took a careful swallow of her wine. "You've never screwed up anything, John. You're too quick to take all the responsibility, you know, even if it affects you negatively."

"I don't know, Tali," Shepard said as he lightly sipped his scotch. "Did I screw up _us?_"

Tali looked at him for a good long while before she gently set her glass down on the table. She folded her hands over the other and stared into Shepard's unflinching face before she gave her response. "Why would you think that? You didn't get _married_, did you?"

Shepard only smiled and shook his head. "No. Did you?"

"No," Tali answered, now finding her initial question to be ludicrous. "But why would you ever think that you would mess anything up? Did you do something that you felt was wrong, John?"

"I don't know," Shepard fidgeted in his seat, slightly uncomfortable. "It's just…I'm not sure that I got what I wanted out of this position, you know? Some days I wonder if I should have just…" He sighed bitterly. "I just want to know if my choice to continue with my military career destroyed what could have been a very good thing, Tali. I...I just need to know."

Tali reached over and lightly gripped Shepard's hand with her own three-fingered appendage. Her voice soft, she leaned over and rubbed her thumb along the back of Shepard's hand. "I made the same choice too, remember? Being an admiral, I thought that would mean that I could protect more people. But I don't think that matters anymore. All I know is that I never intended for us to be like this, to be apart from the other for so long. This wasn't what I had in mind, John."

Shepard reciprocated with a light squeeze on Tali's hand. "Neither did I. I guess that's what we get for both being equally stubborn with helping our own species out. We're just two hopeless old people, huh?"

"Speak for yourself," Tali laughed. "I still have a couple more months until I hit being thirty years old. _You're_ the old man, as far as I can tell."

"Ouch," Shepard said as he raised his eyebrows mockingly. "You do know that I have feelings, Tali."

"You'll heal," Tali replied flippantly, making Shepard chuckle nonetheless. The Tali that he met seven years ago probably would have been mortified at herself for speaking to someone this way but after all this time, she had been around way too many people with a cynical sense of humor, combined with Shepard's personality, that a little indignation managed to rub off on her. Still, it amused Shepard regardless.

The waiter now sidled up to the table, the candlelight bathing his face in a warm glow. "Did you two decide on what you wanted to eat tonight?" he said precisely.

Shepard cleared his throat as he committed his order to his short-term memory. "I'll have the lobster with the truffle butter sauce."

"And I'll have the Cipritini spicy wiven tenderloin - sterilized," Tali replied and the waiter took their menus away, along with their orders.

"What exactly is a wiven?" Shepard asked as he watched the salarian retreat.

"It's a popular animal turians use for food back on Palaven," Tali answered. "It's supposed to be delicious. Also, what's a lobster?"

"A large crustacean that is found in the oceans on Earth. Very tasty. Technically they're all extinct now so any lobster you can buy now is just a clone from collected genetic material."

"Ugh," Tali shivered. "So, you mean kind of like a big insect?"

Shepard shrugged. "If you want to generalize it, then yeah. Doesn't change the fact that it still tastes good."

"I'll take your word for it," Tali shivered.

Restaurants like Exeleren were operated by having all of their meals pre-prepared for their clients. Most of them were made overnight and stored in the enormous freezer, ready for the next day's meal rush. When an order for a particular item came about, the frozen meal was placed into the sophisticated dehydrator (one that doesn't suck _all_ the moisture out of the food) and applied with the necessary glazes. All in all, the entire process took about five minutes, which is why the food came out in short order after the two patrons had placed their requests.

The pair of waters came out with a hot meal tube for Tali and a large steaming plate for Shepard. The food tube contained Tali's wiven, cut into tiny slivers along with a good dose of chopped vegetables. A dressing was applied to the mix which made everything a bit more easier for Tali to access, as she needed a straw to eat the thing. The tube radiated heat and a smell similar to beef managed to reach Shepard's nostrils.

The lobster on Shepard's place was bright red, the shell completely stripped away. It was piled on top of white pilaf and a vegetable hash lined the base. Swiss chard was added as a garnish and the truffle sauce was sprinkled in an artisan pattern around it, bringing a touch of brown to the succulent meat.

"Enjoy," the waiter said with an over-the-top bow and left Shepard and Tali in peace.

Sharing a smile, Shepard grabbed his fork and tore off a portion of the ex-crustacean, revealing the tender white meat inside. He scooped up a bit of the pilaf that accompanied the dish and brought it to his mouth. The burst of flavor was so good that it nearly brought tears to his eyes. After years of eating nothing but standard military meals, it seemed that his taste buds had gotten more sensitive from the lack of eating something different.

Tali was exhibiting the same reaction, as she sucked up a bit of the meat and vegetable combination with a wide straw, and murmured in surprise when she too found her meal to be overwhelmingly delicious. Frantically, she sucked up a larger gulp of her food after her first bite, making Shepard laugh and wave her off while he watched her do so.

"Try not to inhale the food, Tali," he warned with a laugh. "That'll just give you a stomachache."

"So?" Tali said around a mouthful of food but she swallowed noticeably slower at his words. "Do you think I've gotten many chances on the flotilla to eat something that has an actual taste to it?"

"If your situation is at all like mine, I can probably guess that you haven't," Shepard said as he took another measured bite. "Still, try to take it easy, okay? I worry about you, is all."

"And you've never stopped," Tali said slyly but she complied with him, taking up another, but smaller portion of her food. Once she finished with her bite, she took a sip of her wine to wash her wiven down. "So, have you been keeping up with anyone else lately?"

Picking up another helping of lobster, Shepard smirked. "If I haven't had many chances to converse with you, then do you really think that I would have time to talk to anyone else?"

"Fair point," Tali nodded. "It's been the same with me too. I don't even know what the others are all up to, actually."

"I do know a bit, though," Shepard offered. "I still get some updates from time to time. I know that James is over at Earth and a Lieutenant Commander now. He's the new XO of the SSV _Rugged_."

"Seems like a good fit for him. How is Joker, by the way?"

"Still flying the ship. They made him a Wing Commander but he refuses to leave his post. He's too attached to the damn Normandy to even think about doing anything else."

Tali laughed. "Well, that's all I've ever known him to do."

"And Joker would like to keep it that way. Who else is there? Oh yeah, Kaidan is now Colonel Alenko and is stationed on the _Genesis_. He makes special appearances at Grissom Academy for all the biotic students and does a few lectures. He's well adored, from what I hear."

Shepard toyed with an errant bit of food on his plate before he continued. "Javik's now touring the galaxy somewhere, but Garrus and Liara are here on the Citadel. Garrus is doing…whatever retired people do and Liara is working low-key as the Shadow Broker."

There was a miniscule slump in Tali's shoulders at the very mention of Liara but Shepard didn't catch it. Quickly shaking it off, Tali set her empty tube to the side at the same time Shepard set his silverware down. Their glasses were empty by this time and the check had already been paid. Left to sit in the room until they were content, Shepard was at least focused on doing something else at the moment.

"Do you have anything else that you have to do tonight?" Shepard asked Tali.

She checked the time on her chronometer that her omni-tool was equipped with. "I have to be back on the ship in a little bit. Admirals have to report in after each day and all that."

"How old-fashioned," Shepard remarked with a little sourness tinging his voice, disappointed that the evening was potentially going to be cut short. "Do you want to just walk around the wards for a bit until you're ready to go?"

Tali bobbed her head enthusiastically. "That sounds just perfect, John."

Tali quickly learned that she had spoken too soon when she had described the idea as perfect because once the two of them approached the door, they found no less than half a dozen reporters milling around the restaurant's entrance, looking to snap a photo or snag a short line for their next publication.

"Son of a-," Shepard muttered as they halted a short distance away, still in the foyer of the restaurant. "It's been three years; you'd think they would have moved on to a different subject by now."

Tali was annoyed too and she huffed inside her helmet. "They have no concept of privacy. Do you want to just sneak out the back way and give them the slip?"

"Ah, they'll get wise to our act soon and catch up eventually. Might as well fight through them now and show them that we're not interested in talking."

"Okay," Tali said before she took a deep breath. She held out her hand and brushed it against Shepard's side. He got the message and clasped the hand in his own gentle grip. "Don't let go of me," she whispered to him.

"I won't," he promised before the both of them strode forward through the doorway into a torrent of noise and camera flashes.

"_Admiral Shepard, Admiral Zorah!_" a hundred voices seemed to be yelling, the noise a startling cacophony. "Admirals!" one young human yelled. "How does it feel to be back on the Citadel after your tours?"

Shepard and Tali just drew themselves closer and slowly shouldered themselves through the crowd, their jaws firmly clamped shut.

"_Just a quick word, Shepard!"_

"_Admiral Zorah, what do you have to say about the recent quarian settlement proposal?"_

"_Shepard, can you comment on the newest meme the extranet has put out with your image?"_

"_Admiral Zorah, does this mean that you and Admiral Shepard are back together?"_

The reporters, despite their tenaciousness, did not get a word out of Shepard and Tali and after the two had finally made it past the throng of press, most of them realized the futility of their quest and slowly trudged off. A brave few still followed, thinking that they would breach one of their defenses sooner or later but eventually broke off after they still refused to respond and allowed the admirals to continue on their way, unmolested.

Shepard and Tali walked quickly through the wards, passing expertly through the crowds before Shepard yanked Tali into a back alley, huddling in the corner while they watched the door close safely behind them. They held onto the other for half a minute before they determined that they weren't being followed any more.

"For a second there," Tali said, "I thought they weren't going to give up."

"They probably left to cover a skycar accident or another breaking news story," Shepard reasoned. "They're very narrow-minded like tha-" He stopped as he looked around the surrounding area. This was the first time he had to fully consider the place he had chosen to hide in. There was a reddish glow in the alley and pipes carrying steam trailed up the sides and across the ceiling. Shepard let go of Tali and walked up a flight of stairs looking out over the floor beyond.

"What is it, John?" Tali asked as she trailed behind him.

With a grin, he looked back. "You don't recognize where we are, Tali?"

"Let me see," she said as she now approached Shepard's spot to peer down a set of stairs in front of her, leading to a small open area in the middle of the alley. Tables and crates were all arranged behind a storefront, but the location was familiar nonetheless. It all clicked for her right then as she realized what he meant. "John, I first met you _here!_"

"Yes," he said gleefully as he strode down the narrow steps, indicating various locations with his arms. "You were standing right there when I first saw you. You were getting harassed by a turian, if I recall correctly."

"That's right. He tried to take the data I had on Saren, after Fist had promised that I would see the Shadow Broker." She looked over at Shepard. "But then you came out that door and shot him in the heart. As far as first impressions go, you made a big one."

"I'd say," Shepard said lightly. "I had to run half a mile just to get to this place because I wasn't sure if I was going to make it in time. By then I was full of adrenaline and in no mood for games."

"No doubt," Tali quipped but didn't say any more after that. Rather, she took a hold of Shepard's arm and leaned against him, giving a soft sigh in the process. But Shepard intertwined their hands together, wordlessly giving her his support as they stood in the center of the room, of their memories.

"When do you have to go back?" Shepard whispered, his head facing forward.

"Soon," Tali sighed, everything in her body screaming at her not to go. She felt Shepard's arm tense in regret and his face fell in remorse, saddened that the night had come to an end so quickly.

"Okay," Shepard said haltingly. "But I'll walk you back to your ship. It's the least I-"

"_Wait_," Tali interrupted, her fingers digging into Shepard's skin as she clutched at him. He turned his body in surprise as she looked up, her eyes wide behind her visor. "Do…Don't you have to do anything tonight?"

"Me? No, I don't have anything else that I need to do. I was planning to go back to my apartment after I dropped you off, but-"

"Don't," Tali said forcefully. "I don't want to go back to the Shellen. I can't go back there _now_. I've spent enough time there as it is." She dropped her gaze suddenly. "I want more time with you, John. Just…just take me with you to your apartment. I don't want to leave just yet."

Shepard was delighted to hear those words while he gave her his warmest smile. He gently cupped the bottom of her helmet and lifted it so that their faces were gazing at the other only inches away. "I don't want you to leave either, Tali. But are you sure that you can just leave your ship like that? Won't your absence be noted amongst the crew?"

"Oh, it will certainly be noticed," Tali affirmed but quickly giggled. "But I don't give a damn what they think. I deserve the right to see my best friend for as long as possible after not seeing him for over a year. If they take offense to that and discharge me, then I really couldn't care less. I believe that this is more important."

"So do I, Tali."

Shepard hugged her in the middle of the alley, dim lighting and all. His grin was sparkling as he just laughed at her confidence, so happy that she wanted this as much as he did. Not wasting any more time, the two wheeled themselves out of the narrow passageway and back into the bustling chaos of the wards. All they needed right now was to find a taxi stand.

* * *

After a quick cycling of the locks, the door opened to reveal the once again spacious interior to the both of them. Shepard sighed as he cast off his jacket and threw it over the nearest chair. Tali, meanwhile, was still in awe at the sheer amount of space the apartment afforded, despite the fact that she had been here once before.

The place was a gift from the late Admiral Anderson and Shepard appreciated the notion that he had such a place to kick back and relax every now and then. Truthfully, he considered that he had too much space as he had no use for the two extra bedrooms, much less a Jacuzzi and a full bar. But, Anderson had insisted and Shepard needed an excuse to spend a portion of his ridiculous savings on taxes, so this would have to do. Hell, if Anderson had not ordered Shepard to keep the place, he would have sold it long ago.

Rubbing at his hair, Shepard turned around to face Tali, who was still standing at the door. "I'm just going to freshen myself up. It'll only take five minutes. Feel free to make yourself at home, Tali."

She nodded and Shepard quickly walked up the stairs to his own room on the second story, the door closing behind him. Tali breathed out in his absence as it felt like a fist that had been crushing her windpipe had relaxed, allowing her to inhale more easily.

But as she slowly walked around the place, looking at the huge picture adorning the fireplace of the entire crew, the fist clenched again. Looking at herself in the picture, watching her and Shepard gaze at the other while they held hands was bringing back the flood of memories to Tali. It felt like something was tickling her inside her stomach, making her twitch as her subconscious ever so slightly pushed her along a path it had in mind.

Tali remembered the joyful party that had transpired after the war had finished and Shepard had come back from the hospital. She could easily take herself back to that night, watching herself and everyone else dance to popular music, drink themselves silly in celebration, and have her and Shepard sit on his bed, spending sheer hours just talking. Being the center of such an important place for her caused Tali to sigh, knowing what she wanted now.

There was a crave building inside her, the simmer that had been churning had gradually been brought to a boil, threatening to spill. Knowing exactly what she was doing, she strode up the stairs, taking two at a time, waiting at Shepard's door while it cycled for an unusually long time before it allowed her admittance.

The first thing Tali saw was Shepard's puddled clothes on the floor in front of her, a trail leading to the bathroom to her right. A hissing sound was emanating from the door, denoting that Shepard was currently using the shower. She smiled, almost tingling with anticipation.

In a brief moment of clarity, she whipped out her omni-tool and scanned the air for any contaminants. To her surprise, there were very little foreign particulates that her system could recognize, denoting that the air here was actually quite clean. Of course, the results most likely would not have mattered anyway, but it still gave Tali a drive that what she was doing was going to be perfectly safe.

Sitting on the edge of Shepard's bed, Tali took a deep breath and gently depressed the seals on her visor, hearing an odd echo of a sinister laugh echo around her. Willing her fingers to quit their trembling, she pulled the covering off her face, allowing for the warm air to gently waft on her skin, the feeling sensational after being cooped up inside this suit for so long. The sheer joys of experiencing life without something blocking her sensation of touched was a gift that many took for granted, Tali had to concede. For her, the experience was unparalleled with anything that she had ever done before and each time she had revealed herself, she always got such a rush from the sheer thrill of doing so. It was addicting, to say the least.

Her dexterous fingers moving quickly, she lifted her helmet off her suit after flicking the clasps, letting the gold covering fall behind her safely onto the bed. She waved her head to let her tangled hair wisp around her after being held in place for so long. She brushed at the black strands, making them look somewhat presentable before she gave up and concentrated on other aspects before Shepard would get out of the shower.

Tali used her omni-tool to automatically release the vacuum seals holding her suit in place, a new technology fabricated for easier suit removal. With a deflating sound, Tali's suit suddenly felt baggy as the seals released, her suit no longer airtight. With that step done, she ordered the electronic clasps lining her back to also let go, splitting her suit open and revealing more of her silvery skin to the world.

It was a simple affair after that to completely remove her suit. She shrugged her shoulders out of the top part first, releasing her arms from the suit's ever present grip. Tali then tugged at her boots, sliding the rest of the material down her body, slowly revealing more and more of her. With a final kick, the suit slid off her hips, allowing her to step out and leave it lying on the floor next to Shepard's clothing.

Finally free from the damned suit, Tali stood upright in the middle of Shepard's room, letting her hands softly trail over her body in a timid exploration. The warm air coddled her like a blanket and the feel of carpet on her toes tickled her. She laughed hesitantly, stretching herself out while letting her emotions run free and wild.

Knowing that she was about to calm the desire pooling in her chest, Tali padded naked over to the bathroom door, the smooth surface opening at just the slightest touch. The first thing she felt was a blast of heat and steam, the condensation clinging to her skin. She closed her eyes as goosebumps traveled up her body. It had been a long time since she had felt something like this, years in fact. She had shared her last experience out of her suit with Shepard, as a matter of fact.

Walking forward, she could see Shepard's form outlined through the glass shower, oblivious to her presence as it was completely coated over with mist. Smiling wickedly, Tali hooked her fingers around the shower handle and pulled, revealing him to her.

Shepard began to sense that something was amiss from the cool draft at his back as he finished brushing his teeth in the shower. Rinsing out his mouth before turning around, his eyes widened as he saw an unclothed Tali standing at the door, a hungry look on her face.

She still was very beautiful, much to Shepard's pleasant surprise. Her thin body was traced with muscle, making the woman, despite her slimness, appear very strong. A few black strokes wrapped themselves around her form, two of them appearing from her eyebrows to run up to her scalp. Her grey skin, the color of steel, remained very much the way he saw it last, very smooth and pockmarked with a few scars, faint lines tracing her skin. Shepard remembered that he had liked to look at the scars when they had lain in bed before, but it always made him a little sad to know that a person like this did not deserve the hurt inflicted on them like that.

Even though it felt like an eternity to him as the two stared deeply into the other, his blue eyes and her glowing white ones, Shepard barely had time to take in Tali's appearance completely before she quickly walked into the spray, closed the door behind her, and mashed her face against Shepard's in a passionate kiss.

In shock, Shepard made a surprised noise, muffled from Tali's mouth over his, but once she threw her arms over his neck lovingly, everything became right. She trembled from the water rushing down her skin, her black hair beginning to plaster to her head. Shepard's own hands trailed down Tali's body, always on the move, smoothing over any skin within reach. Aroused, Tali aggressively pushed Shepard to the wall of the shower as she continued to kiss him, falling deeper and deeper into each other's snare.

Tali's glowing eyes transfixed him with desire, an aspect that Shepard always found to be alluring. It had to be the pure white eyes shining with such an innocence that caused Shepard to repeatedly lose himself in them, to Tali's amusement for she didn't think there was anything special about them.

Temporarily submitting himself to her urges, Shepard let Tali begin the pace as they kissed. The contrasting temperatures from the cold wall at his back to the blazing hot shower and the body pressing against his front were sending him into a delirium. It had been years since they had been together like this, and Tali was all he had thought about in that time.

With an animal urge for dominance, Shepard quickly turned and pressed Tali up against the cold stone wall instead. She shuddered from the cool touch upon her skin but disregarded it as her body got used to the difference in temperature. No words were exchanged between them, but their actions spoke volumes.

Becoming bolder and fighting for at least a shred of control, Tali opened her mouth wider and entered Shepard's mouth with her tongue. The effect was electric; Shepard hooked his hands around her calves and propped her up a couple inches with a low growl, making her squeal with glee. He pressed into her body, feeling her firm breasts against his chest, fighting to share her heat, her life. Joyfully, Tali wrapped her hands around Shepard's face as they spent countless minutes in their position, just furiously making out while water sluiced around them.

There was a hint that the pace was to escalate at any given moment, but the initiative was not being seized right now. As happy as Tali was at this point in time, she still wanted more. She could smell the rich scent of shampoo, taste the hint of mint on her tongue from Shepard's mouth, and she just kept falling. Her legs wrapped around Shepard's body, gripping him tighter as she let out a moan of pure pleasure from everything impacting on her skin.

Not being able to take it anymore, with fumbling fingers, Shepard finally managed to switch the shower off, the gurgling sounding soon afterward. Breaking away from the kiss they had shared all this time, Tali looked hurt but saw that Shepard carried the same hunger in his eyes that she had exhibited in the beginning. She then knew that he wanted to continue but wanted to switch themselves over to a more comfortable venue. Without talking, the two quickly toweled off, Shepard taking great joy in helping Tali with that part as he tenderly kissed her belly while he dabbed at her legs, until they were reasonably dry.

Once they had considered themselves finished with that step, they collided with each other once more and stumbled to the door in the throngs of yet another kiss. They almost tripped several times on their journey to the bed, toppling onto it in a tangle of limbs, only passion inscribed in their minds.

Truthfully, this was in no way how Tali had foreseen her night coming to an end. Maybe it was the dinner, the talking, or simply the thrill of seeing Shepard after years of not being in the presence of the other that had resulted in this spontaneous sexual urge. She felt like this was something she needed, not just the sex, but for the close intimate contact with someone she knew so well, the need to establish a powerful bond once more. Her soul clamored for it, and it needed to be satiated.

Dragging everything out to last what she felt was a lifetime, Tali became enthralled in this…fantasy. It _was_ a fantasy, she conceded, seeing as this was all she thought ever since she had parted ways with Shepard. There had always been something wrong with her and it seemed like she was being given the answer to the problem right here.

In a tangle of sheets, the bedroom echoed with the sound of fierce kissing and the lusty moans erupting from the two of them. Tali's limbs flailed as Shepard briefly pleasured his alien partner with his mouth in the beginning, causing Tali's entire body to pulse, her muscles rippling in ecstasy. He always seemed to know what she liked best, for he was carefully watching her movements, her change in posture, to sense what area he could stimulate for the best effect. He was truly one of an empathetic nature.

After that, the two rolled this way and that on the bed, unable to tear themselves from the other. A few times they came close to toppling off of the bed in a heap but they would both laugh and tumble into a safer position while they met skin with skin. Nothing could come between them now, and everything they had kept bottled up inside them practically exploded out into the open. The human's and quarian's legs hooked around the other, only muffled moans sounding as their craving for affection and love overwhelmed every other basic need.

Shortly, the night would carry on and eventually end with the creaking of bed springs and heavy gasps. Tali held on to Shepard as he proceeded slowly, as opposed to his harsh actions in the shower. She remembered that he was always gentle with her here, so gentle, that she had trouble figuring out how such a battle-riddled soldier could possibly exhibit such tenderness and love. The care applied to her was much more effective than rough lust, her arousal peaking as Shepard's muscular form carefully melded with her leaner and wiry body, and soon Tali found herself slipping away.

As Tali gripped Shepard firmly around the waist, she cried out his name, several times in fact. His answering groans were more than enough to achieve her perfect ending for the night, a long wail from her bouncing off the bedroom walls. Shepard finished soon after at the sound of her mewling, and he gently lowered himself down onto her, finding Tali eagerly waiting with a kiss which caused him to sink back into the old familiar feeling once more from her lips on his.

Gently, he rolled over so that Tali was lying atop him, still kissing the other heavily. Her arms were around his neck while one of his hands was placed across her back and the other was on the back of her head, threading through the black, tangled mop of hair on her scalp.

Panting hard, Shepard caressed Tali's cheek. Grinning slightly, she kissed his thumb as it passed by her mouth. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that again," she breathed.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," Shepard defended. "But I did need that. More than I initially would have thought."

"As did I. That's why you've always been totally worth it." Tali rested her chin on Shepard's chest, still smiling broadly but quickly frowned as she considered something. "Why did we leave, John? If this is who we're meant to be, then why would we have left someone so good?"

Shepard looked at Tali as he considered her words. His arms now pulling at hers, he lifted Tali so that she was lying right beside him, their heads at the same height. "I don't know," he answered. "What we had – _have_ – is something no one else has ever understood. Maybe I just didn't appreciate what I had been left after that damn war. Maybe I was just afraid, Tali."

"Afraid of what, John?"

He raised an arm in frustration, as if he was trying to mime out his misgivings before he flopped his appendage down by his side, his breath being expelled forcefully to signify his disgust in himself.

"That I could lose everything if I let my guard down. That I would still be in danger, no matter how safe everything seemed. I just couldn't accept it at the time…I just…"

Tali interrupted him with a soft kiss on his cheek, a tear threatening to spill its way down her face. "I knew that one day this would happen. I never lost hope that I could once again realize how much I need you in my life, John."

"Maybe I just don't care about the consequences anymore, Tali. Maybe I should just appreciate what I have _now_ instead of worrying about what I can lose later. I do get lonely up there in space, you know."

"So do I," Tali said. "I get terribly lonely when I'm on my ship as well. I just can't think of anyone else besides you when I'm all by myself up there, John."

"Same here, because you're the only one I've ever wanted to see," Shepard said before both converged on the other, exchanging tender kisses as they laid side by side, their arms slowly wrapping around each other while they partook in their duties. Fifteen minutes passed before they finally halted and slowly pulled the covers of the bed over themselves. Still locked in an embrace, the two slowed their movements and rapidly fell into a blissful sleep, lapsing into unconsciousness at the same time.

They would later recall that it would be the best rest they had received in years.

* * *

**_A/N: My sarcastic inner self is straining to burst free so I'll just leave this fluff here and call it a day before I end up making things worse._**

**_Sounds good to me._**


	4. Chapter 4: The River

"_That is what I am, Tali'Zorah; your own personal demon."_

Tali's eyes snapped open as she loudly gasped. Frantically, she sat up in the bed only to discover that, instead of hanging by her arms in a dimly lit room while blood ran down her arms, she was alone and safe in bed with nary a scratch on her. The covers fell off her and she clutched at herself, dimly noting that she was still outside her suit as the air was noticeably colder around her.

She looked down to her side to find the other half of the bed unoccupied, to her confusion at first. Shepard must be downstairs as he wasn't in the room or in the shower at this time, she quickly determined. Tali shivered as the final remnants of Grevel's voice faded, the thought not assuaging her in the slightest. She let out a soft sob of relief, rubbing at her arms to make herself feel warmer.

"Damn it," she muttered as she hopped out of the bed to where she had left her suit. As she began the process of sealing herself back up, she reflected on the reasons why this was happening to her. The memories came in random intervals, always of that sinister mask hovering over her head. The ghoulish voice always taunted her and for seven years this had kept up. It was always the same image of the person who had so violated her most private thoughts, manifesting her own personality into the folds of her mind.

_She's dead, Tali_, she told herself. _Grevel is dead so why can't you block her out?_

Numbly, Tali stared into space as she reflexively closed her suit back up. With a few button presses on her omni-tool, the covering hissed and the clasps sprang forward into each other, locking the material in place with a few harsh snaps. Tali quickly tied her hair back before she lifted the rear portion of her helmet, sliding it along her skull. Somewhat mournfully, she picked up her visor from the ground and pressed it against the seals, making a faint clicking noise that reverberated in her ears. After draping her hood over her helmet and doing a final systems check did she sadly determine that she was ready to go.

She sighed as her tinny voice was restricted once again. Being out of this suit was the most wonderful feeling she could possibly describe and yet she was still tethered to its ability to keep her alive. If it weren't for Shepard, though…

That brought a pang of hope to her as she remembered where she was, a slow smile spreading across her face. She was here in Shepard's apartment, wasn't she? She had just spent a night with someone who cared about her and now they were within arm's reach once again. What right did she have to be afraid right now? No longer melancholy, Tali bounded off the bed and raced down the steps, where a sizzling noise was coming from the kitchen.

She rounded the corner to find Shepard working at the kitchen island, prodding a pan of scrambled eggs while onions and cubes of meat sat in a bubbling pool of fat. He saw her enter and held out an arm to give her a lopsided hug, as he was holding onto a cooking utensil with his other hand. Tali squeezed his body in reassurance, looking to cement whatever scrap of proof she could find that this entire encounter was real.

"Good morning, Tali," Shepard greeted as they still continued to hug. "Sleep well?"

"Very," she answered. _Except for the ending_, she thought to herself.

Grinning, Shepard kissed the top of her hood before he broke off to make sure that he didn't burn his eggs. "No regrets about last night?" he asked with a concerned tone.

"None whatsoever," she replied confidently as she leaned across the counter to stare at him. "You're making yourself some breakfast?"

"Yep," Shepard nodded as he slid the eggs onto an awaiting plate, followed by the onions and the meat. He then put the plate into a warming drawer underneath the oven before he walked over to the sink to wash his hands. "I can get started on yours right now, if you like."

"My…what?" Tali faltered. "You mean breakfast? Oh, no thank you, John. I don't want you to go to the trouble-"

"Nonsense!" he waved her off. "I have the sterile kitchenware stored somewhere in this place. Besides, what are going to do for food anyway, order takeout? If I can just…_aha!_" After applying a pair of gloves, Shepard opened a vacuum sealed cabinet and removed another pan and plate and proceeded to set them down on the stove. "Knew they weren't too far. Now, what would you like, Tali?"

It had to be Shepard's genuine seriousness for something that Tali thought was completely unnecessary that she broke out in a fit of giggles. Shepard's expression flickered to apprehension briefly before returning to his initial face when he wanted to help someone. After recovering, Tali looked at the equipment that Shepard had procured before glancing at him incredulously. "You mean…what do I want to eat? John, that's sweet of you, but I'm not sure that you have anything that I _can_ eat…"

"I can see where you'd be a little confused," Shepard shrugged before pointing behind Tali. "That's why I bought a second refrigerator filled with stuff that might I might not use. Go have a look and pick out anything that fits your fancy."

Now incredibly befuddled, Tali walked over to the stainless steel door and tugged hard on the handle. With a sucking noise, the white interior of the cooler beamed at her, exposing Tali to a treasure trove. Boxes of food clearly labeled "dextro" jumped out at her. There were cartons of eggs, gallons of liquids, stacks of meat, and even a few bottles of wine that were being chilled. In awe, Tali stared at the sight for a good while before she looked back at Shepard in confirmation.

"And…and I can eat all this?"

"Anything you want, Tali. I've improved my cooking in the last few years so I shouldn't be able to mess anything up now. Cooking dextro food uses the same principles as levo foods so it shouldn't be too difficult."

With trembling fingers, Tali picked up a carton of eggs, a leafy green vegetable, and a small package of thinly sliced meat. Closing the door behind her, she held out her chosen items to Shepard, who took them. "Eggs," she whispered. "I…I would like some eggs, please."

He beamed at her, enjoying watching Tali try to wrap her head around this. "Sure thing, Tali. Eggs it is."

Shepard cracked open the carton and blinked at the size of the eggs in question. Since they were of dextro chirality, they had come from a different species farmed somewhere in the Apien crest. The package detailed a four-legged animal that looked like a miniature elephant, but from what he had read on the extranet, the consistency and taste was very similar to the avian counterpart that humans enjoyed back on earth. He figured it was just better to pretend that he was dealing with abnormally large chicken eggs.

As she watched him crack the eggs open and whip them in a bowl, Tali blinked in wonder. "You have sterilized cooking tools and an entire fridge filled with dextro food. Was…was this all meant for _me_, John?"

He only gave her a knowing smile as he began slicing the meat before tossing it into another sterilized pan. "I figured you'd be back here someday and that this eventuality might occur. I had the place properly stocked to accommodate that possibility and I'm glad I did. Also, that's not all, Tali. Did you notice that all of the doors in this apartment took a whole lot longer to cycle than any regular door?"

"Yes, but I just assumed that it was a software-" she broke off as she drew from information previously buried in her brain, a possible scenario surfacing. "You didn't," she gaped, her mouth open.

Shepard shrugged again, like one was discussing the weather. "Are you feeling sick at all? Maybe a little down under the weather? You did just spend a whole night without your suit on, is why I'm asking."

"Yes- I mean, no!" Tali corrected, realizing that, since she woke up, she had not even felt even an inkling of discomfort. She had been too distracted to think about it before. "But…John, you're telling me that you installed a _sterilization unit_ for the entire apartment?"

"Technically, I had _four_ installed. This place is too damn big for one unit to properly handle all of the volume in the apartment."

"Four…" Tali mumbled as she ran a hand across the top of her hood. "Then…you made the entire place clean so that…so that I can be around you without a mask on?"

"Take a look at your contaminant readings," Shepard urged as he beamed. "Find out for yourself."

Really, Tali didn't need to check at all because she had never known Shepard to deliberately lie to her before. He was not one to fib in order to make things go his way. Regardless, she decided to humor him and did a test, her omni-tool reporting that the current quality of the air had a 1.35% chance of contamination. Compared to Shepard's cabin on the Normandy, which had about a 40%, this was as clean as it was going to get. If she were to apply antibiotics, Tali reckoned that she could get that percentage down even lower.

Slowly at first but shoving her concerns back down, Tali pulled her visor off again and sighed as she could breathe a little easier, the tormenting cover removed. The smell of cooking eggs and frying vegetables wafted deliciously into her nostrils and her stomach growled at the prospect of yet another fantastic meal. Shepard, meanwhile, watched the quarian push her hood back and remove the last of her helmet, showing him that face that he really never had much time to see.

"Much better," Shepard grinned as he scraped the eggs onto another plate and then scooped up some vegetables and meat to place carefully on top of her dish. He held the plate out to her and a smiling Tali reached for it, only to find that Shepard was gradually reeling his arms in, making Tali walk further and further until she was just feet away from him. When she got at the right distance, Shepard leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips, taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Tali gave him a playfully bemused expression before she set her breakfast down and moved in to initiate another, harder kiss. Her own stance was more desperate, more emotional, which made it all the more arousing for the both of them. They momentarily forgot their hunger for food and instead focused on each other as their lips parted and converged, their tongues playing together. It was the complete lack of fear in this environment that caused everything to become unhinged.

With sharp intake of breath, they diverged, their cheeks flushing darkly. "I'm never going to tire of that," Tali giggled.

"I'm thinking that you need to come over more often," Shepard admitted, still looking particularly flustered after that intense kiss. He handed Tali her plate and bent down to retrieve his from the oven, where it had been kept warm the entire time. "Let's go see if there's something on the vidscreen while we eat, okay?"

It turns out there _was_ something on the vidscreen to watch at this hour, after wrangling a little with the channels, that is. There were a few sports matches that were going on but neither Shepard nor Tali particularly cared for the games this current season offered. Shepard liked a good fighting match while Tali was more into those obstacle games that heavily involved tech to get through them safely, neither of which was on at the moment. In any case, after Shepard protested against seeing _Fleet and Flotilla_ for a third time, they finally settled on something to watch: an old human movie made roughly a hundred and fifty years ago. It was a bit on the over-the-top side but it was by no means any less entertaining.

"_Ooooowieeee, you're good looking!_" the bad guy said on the screen as he entered the room, a comical smile on his face accompanied by a little sashay of his hips.

Tali almost spat the eggs from her mouth as she laughed. "Are you serious?" she choked out. "Was that line _supposed_ to be funny?"

"No," Shepard laughed as he set his plate down on the table in front of them. "I've never seen this movie before but it is…something else."

Tali had initially fumbled with using a fork to eat her food as she never had the occasion to use one before, but she soon got the hang of it and was awkwardly shoving food in her mouth by the end of her meal. To Shepard's delight, Tali had reported that his cooking was not terrible and was all-around fantastic, even going so far as to name it one of the best meals of her life, which made him glow with pride that his first home-cooked meal in a while had been a rousing success.

The bad guy on the screen made yet another stupid quote that was, yet again, meant to be taken seriously. He was shown with a very contorted face, as if he was struggling to find the right emotions for the scene but still overcompensating in every way.

Tali clutched at her stomach to keep herself from upending her plate that was perched precariously on her legs. "Okay, that's it! This is a comedy now, _not_ an action film, John."

They continued to watch the film in a mix of amusement and horror. After a two-hour parade of explosions, cheesy one-liners, and endless slow motion shots, the credits finally rolled. Tali slumped on the couch, somehow physically exhausted from the ordeal. She blew a few strands of hair out of her face as Shepard began to snuggle up next to her, causing her to make a faint purr of affection.

"Mmm," Tali smiled as Shepard wrapped his arms around her waist, causing the both of them to lie sideways on the couch. "You know I like it when you do that, John."

"I've missed being able to do this to you," Shepard revealed as he began to kiss the side of Tali's neck, causing tingles to bolt down her limbs in ecstasy. He rubbed at her scalp, brushing Tali's hair with his fingers while the quarian lightly murmured and sighed as both of them lay there together.

"Ohhhh," Tali groaned as Shepard still continued to kiss her on her neck. "John…I…I don't think we're going to be able to do anything else if you keep that up for much longer."

"Oh?" Shepard seductively whispered into her ear, his breath tickling her. "Was there something you wanted to do today, Tali?"

She giggled as she rolled on her back, giving Shepard a light kiss before looking up at the ceiling in consideration. "I still have a few days before I rotate out, but I always wanted to try out that casino just outside your place. You know, the one on the Silversun Strip?"

"I know the place," Shepard nodded, now saddened by the fact that this euphoric encounter had been limited by time all along. "Do you want to go right now? We can just get some money together and go have a fun time, if that's what you want."

"It sounds good," Tali laughed before lightly flicking Shepard's lower lip with her finger. "And afterward…we can get back to _this_. If we start doing this at this hour, we're never going to get anything done because we'll just be confined to your bed all day."

"Ah well," Shepard shrugged as he sat up, helping Tali lean on him. "We can always make that the schedule for tomorrow, then," he mischievously added.

Tali rolled her eyes but chuckled all the same. "I suppose we could."

* * *

The tiny little light on her omni-tool blinked and Grevel quickly tapped the control to activate the application. "What?" she barked into the comm.

"They just left the apartment," a gruff voice squawked back. "It looks like they're headed over to the casino. Did you want my team to move on them now?"

"No," Grevel said quickly. "Wait until you're in a less populated area or at least a place where there is a good choke point, like a restaurant. Take your time to survey the surrounding establishments and report back to me if their movements change at all."

"Roger that," the voice said before the connection cut out.

Her fingers tapped expectedly on the sides of her chair. In a way, Grevel missed the thrill that she got from having to kill a misbehaving trooper in order to make an example out of them. These mercs were professional, prompt, and they always communicated well with her. It almost saddened her that she had to play this game with a few of these worthy workers, but sacrifices were always going to be made and the game was far too great for any one of them to properly understand.

Grevel sighed back in the silence of her room. There were trembles rumbling down her arms again. She mentally grumbled; she was going to have to take her nerve stimulant to calm her emotions by instructing her adrenaline to race elsewhere. It was part of her healing regimen the Broker had detailed, one that she still religiously adhered to.

_It will be today. It all starts today._

A knife of pain unexpectedly stabbed forth out of nowhere, causing Grevel to wince as agony rushed through her. She bent over and savagely slammed a hand down on her leg that was the source of the pain to begin with. Instead of a dull thud, the impact made a hollow banging noise that was quickly swallowed up into the walls. Grevel gripped at her leg, knowing that it wouldn't stop hurting by doing so but instinctively did it anyway.

Phantom pain, they called it. As a result of the cortical reorganization that had occurred when her legs had been sheared off on Anhur, Grevel swore she could feel her missing limbs even though they were completely removed from her body. She knew that the pain was mostly the result of injured nerve fibers at her stumps, but this was something even modern medicine could not fix. Once a fiber was cut, it remained cut.

To try to confirm the source of her pain, Grevel lifted her leg and yanked away the cloth and armor surrounding her "calf" at the boot. She sourly eyed the configuration of metal machinery encased within. Stabilizing pistons hissed and embedded shock absorbers adjusted through the welded plating. It was one of the best prosthetics money could buy and Grevel could use it just as well as her old legs. But they _weren't_ her original legs, which was the problem to begin with. All sensation, all touch, was gone in those areas. She couldn't feel anything there, except pain.

Pain was all she had now, but she could surely spread it to others.

* * *

"Fifteen on black has it!" the croupier called out.

Her fingers grasping on the edge of the table, Tali looked at Shepard. "What's that mean, John?" she said in excitement.

Shepard gestured to the roulette board upon where the chips were stacked. "That means you just _won_, Tali," he indicated warmly.

"I won!?" she gasped in disbelief, only accepting it when a larger pile of chips were pushed in her direction.

"To the tune of fifteen thousand credits," Shepard examined. "So, accounting for the fact that you bet on two different spots, you lost some money but you made over ten thousand credits in total. Good job!"

Unable to contain herself, Tali joyfully hugged Shepard in the middle of the casino. The other patrons didn't care; they had seen gaudier acts before, even in a classy place like this. Predictably, there were a few people who didn't hold back looks of consternation when they noticed that a quarian was in their midst. They said nothing, though, as the nomadic race was slowly building up a level of trust within the Council species, the humans especially, but there were still some who remained mistrustful of them as a whole.

On the other hand, there were several others who actively went out of their way to personally thank Shepard and even Tali for their services. They were all polite in their approaches and many were taken aback when Shepard offered to shake their hands. One veteran even saluted Shepard by the blackjack tables and surprised Tali when he asked to shake her hand. Curiously, she accepted but there was that warm feeling that always arose whenever she was with Shepard. It was like he had the ability to open her eyes to a world she could never imagine before.

She was immensely thankful for him.

"Well," Shepard said after Tali finished counting her chips, the two of them now wandering around the casino, "we've tried the roulettes, the blackjack, the varren races, and even the baccarat tables. Would you like to do anything else, Tali?"

"How about the poker tables?" she asked eagerly, cocking her head in the right direction.

"You sure?" Shepard asked. "Some of the regulars here are probably pretty vicious. They'll want to eat your chips up once you set them down on that board."

"I've played poker with you before, John, and I've handled your intense streak. Why not try and see what these _amateurs_ can offer us?"

Shepard had to shrug at her words. The aloof nature was probably the best way to go, he had to admit. The both of them weren't poor; they weren't here to specifically get any richer but to have an all-around good time. Besides, it wasn't like a game of poker was going to kill them, unless one of them got so overconfident that they would attempt to bet the titles to their ships and they weren't nearly drunk enough to do that.

They found an empty table and took their seats, waiting for the rest of the players to finish their hands. While Shepard and Tali grabbed glasses of wine for themselves, the dealer slid cards in their direction and Shepard plunked his blind in the pot. Their opponents eyed them sourly, each one wanting to go for the kill. With the right attitude, a poker game could be a battle of patience and strategy and it looked like the other three were currently embodying that mindset. Shepard only smirked and flipped the corners of his cards upward so that he could have just enough time to read the number and the suit.

Shepard glanced over to see Tali holding her cards up at chest height. Smoothly, Shepard carefully pushed her arms down so that the cards were lying face down on the table. "No one's going to play fairly here," Shepard explained quietly. "If they see your cards, they're going to react accordingly. You're going to have to keep them covered as much as possible."

Tali immediately took his advice and sat through the game stoically, her movements on the table precise. Twenty minutes passed and two people eventually bowed out; one had willingly left with his chips and the other had been picked clean by a mean hand from Shepard. No one else took their places and the final scowling patron continued to savagely eyeball them as things started to heat up.

"All in," Tali said unexpectedly as she pushed her chips, quite a significant amount, into the center. Shepard blinked in surprise but saw that Tali had her hands clasped firmly over the other. He smiled as recognized that she her fingers were not squirming all over the place, which would have been her indication that she was nervous. So, she clearly was not bluffing with her hand and her opponent didn't know that, but Shepard did, which amused him.

"Call," the man said as he took a swig of his drink before answering Tali's movements. Shepard made a low whistle as the pot just got twenty-five thousand credits heavier. He glanced at the cards on the table before looking back at the two that he currently carried.

The five cards already aligned out were gleaming white, front and center. The two of spades and the eight of hearts Shepard didn't care about. It was the seven, eight, and nine of clubs he was most interested in. Add to the fact that he was right now carrying a ten and a jack of clubs made the situation even more interesting: a straight flush for him.

Tali was looking intently at the large pot in front in her when she thought she glimpsed movement on the table across from her. She looked up, her fingers tapping on the cloth to see a coated figured sitting upright, the skull-like mask peering right through her visor, burning into her brain.

With a gasp, she shut her eyes and nervously cracked them open after a few seconds. There was no one occupying that spot now, but Tali could still feel her heart race from the resulting illusion.

"I'll…" Shepard started to say when movement to his left temporarily distracted him. Tali was absentmindedly flicking her cards now, but it was within Shepard's eyesight, a momentary lapse of his directions to her. The movements were slight, but he couldn't help but pick out a five and a six of clubs in Tali's hand from the very sliver that her movements betrayed: another straight flush.

But Tali's hand was lower than his and Shepard knew he held the winning hand. There were no other possible combinations available to anyone else. If he were to call Tali, he would take the pot, he would take it all. All he had to do was say…

"…fold," Shepard finished as he slid his cards over to the dealer, who accepted them without hesitation. To the man, he gestured for him to show his cards, which he did so with a flourish.

"Full house," the man sneered, trying to look smug when his forehead clearly glistened with sweat.

Tali nodded at the hand before she flipped her own cards over, her hands beginning to shake now. "Straight flush," she got out, and the gentlemen's face flushed from red to purple in a span of two seconds. Muttering profanities under his breath, he reached for a vial of pills in his breast pocket and walked away on wobbly feet. Shepard breathed out from the culmination and gave Tali a one-armed hug.

"Congratulations, Tali," he said as the dealer began to stack Tali's chips in a case. "That was absolutely _brilliant_."

"You think so?" she squeaked out, still cautious at accepting her good fortune for today, nervously checking around her for a sign of her tormentor.

"Absolutely," Shepard asserted as he kissed the side of her helmet in a spur of the moment decision. "You just made over fifty thousand credits in one go at a poker table. For anyone, really, that is astonishing."

"Thanks, John," she laughed weakly as the dealer slid the case containing her winnings over to her. "But, I think I'm going to need a drink right now. I almost didn't think I was going to win it."

"You were nervous, Tali?"

"You think?" she asked sarcastically but sighed in relief soon after.

After Tali's chips were electronically processed and transferred over to her account, they climbed up the stairs to the hip looking bar installed on the second floor. Shepard had to shove aside some of the crowd spilling over from the dance floor to make his way to the bartender, Tali close behind him. Their drinks were assembled in short order; a Manhattan for Shepard and a dextro cocktail for Tali.

As the two sipped their drinks while perched on their stools, they let their eyes wander for a bit. They enjoyed the relative obscurity that the casino provided; there were no press here hounding them about their previous fame, no matter how short lived it was. No one to bother them at all. Here, Shepard and Tali could just be two regular people who had less than regular pasts. At least, for all the time afforded to them.

Shepard swiveled around in his chair and stopped mid-sip as he witnessed a familiar person leaning over the balcony on the other side of the room. They appeared to be chatting up a woman and his dramatic arm movements relayed to Shepard that his efforts were not going all that well. Unable to suppress his grin, he tapped Tali on the shoulder and pointed the person in question out to her.

"No _way_," Tali chortled as the woman awkwardly gathered her things and hurried away from Garrus Vakarian. The turian did not seem to take the rejection all that badly as he shrugged and returned to his drink, now talking with someone beyond his field of view, for there were a few dancers blocking his sight.

Almost as soon as the thought to visually penetrate the crowd came into his head, the dancers parted, revealing the slender form of Liara T'Soni sitting next to Garrus as she was most likely pointing out all his flaws in his latest attempt to woo a member of the opposite gender. At the very sight of Liara, Tali snorted air from her straw in surprise, causing her drink to bubble noticeably. Shepard quickly shot her a glance to which she recovered from, embarrassed at her lack of control in that split second.

"Come on," he said as he took a hold of her hand, noting a momentary reluctance. "Let's say hello while we're here." The drinks remained behind on the bar, forgotten.

Liara saw them coming and nudged Garrus on the shoulder, causing him to turn around in his seat, his eyes widening at the sight of Shepard and Tali headed his way. "Shepard!" the turian crowed, leaping up from his seat to wrap the human in an enormous hug. "And Tali too!" he exclaimed, giving her a noticeably gentler hug as well. Shepard guessed that Garrus was slightly inebriated due to his enthusiasm at the moment but didn't let that affect him.

"Garrus, you old bastard," Shepard grinned uncontrollably. "It's good to see you!" Liara now stood up and stepped forward meekly, her head hanging down a little. "Liara," Shepard beckoned to her for a friendly hug, to which she complied, "wow, it's wonderful that you're here!"

Shepard backed up to allow room for Tali to greet Liara, but when he brushed his hand along her arm, he noticed that her muscles were particularly tense, as if she was worried about something. Her posture was rigid and she stared blankly at the asari. Shepard was about to whisper to Tali to be polite when she gave a timid wave. "Hello, Liara," she said softly.

"Hello, Tali," Liara said, her tone a little uncomfortable but cleared up quickly. "I…I didn't know you two were on the station. Had I known, I would have invited you guys out for lunch or something."

"_That's a first_," Tali mumbled into the corner of her mask so that only she could hear it. "Actually, we both came in last night," Tali said in a louder volume. Ignoring Garrus' snicker, she continued, "Our shore leaves coincided with the other and only just met up yesterday. We still have a couple more days left so I wanted to drag John out here before it was too late. We weren't expecting to run into you guys, though."

"I wasn't expecting to be _here_, if you can believe it," Liara shrugged. "Garrus, in his infinite wisdom, wanted to recruit me as his wingman so that he could go home with someone tonight. I tried giving him some hints but so far things have been a little lackluster for him."

"What, Garrus?" Shepard arched an eyebrow playfully. "Already bored with retirement that you're feeling the need to share it with someone else?"

Garrus rolled his eyes as he playfully retorted back, "Yeah, well, despite Liara being the…" he looked in all directions for a bit before he dropped his volume, "…_Shadow Broker_… I thought that she had access to all sorts of secrets that would allow me to persuade the female…uh, _persuasion_."

"Nice choice of words," Tali chuckled.

"Garrus, I've been trying to explain this to you all day," Liara sighed as she slumped back on her chair. "The secrets I deal with are normally the government-toppling, black-box, life-ruining secrets. I doubt I have anything in my files that pertains on how to woo someone so that you can get them into bed later. You would have had better luck looking over one of those women's magazines, in all actuality."

"Well," the turian protested, "can't you just run a background check on someone and tell me what their preferences and odd habits are so I'll have a better chance of reeling them in? That sounds like a strategy you can pull off."

"You never said anything like that before," Liara smirked. "That's invasion of privacy and illegal, Garrus. But it's nothing I can't do…for a small fee, at least."

Frustrated, Garrus shook his head while Shepard and Tali watched. "Liara, you are the worst wingman in all of existence."

"You get what you pay for," she shrugged.

"I haven't paid you for anything!"

"Exactly. I have to finance my upkeep, you know."

"All right, you two," Shepard chuckled as he held up a hand. "You can carry on this line of conversation when Tali and I leave, okay? No need to drag us into it." He considered something for a moment. "Actually, I think Tali and I were about finished here so would you guys want to catch lunch with us? We can talk for a bit and go back to my apartment to hang out for a few hours afterward."

In the corner of his eye, he clearly saw Tali slowly shake her head back and forth quite subtly. He didn't change his expression to let Garrus and Liara know something was up so he just brushed his fingers on the back of her hand to acknowledge Tali's gesture.

"Sorry, Shepard," Liara sighed, "but we actually just ate."

"Yeah, Shepard," Garrus added. "Sorry. But, we can wait a few hours until you two have finished with your meal and we can all meet up back at your place for the evening. If that's okay with you, that is."

"It's perfectly fine," Shepard granted. "It'll be good for us to relax and chat. I'll let the door program allow you guys to enter if you arrive before we do. Just try not to pilfer all my alcohol, okay? I only just got the placed stocked to the level that I want it at."

"No promises," Garrus snorted, to which Liara shot him a glare. "You guys go and get some food and we'll see you in a few hours, then."

"Sounds good."

Taking hold of the other's hand, Shepard and Tali looked at each other and slowly snaked their way through the throng of dancers, trying to reach the staircase. Tali looked back at Liara in a furtive glance and turned away quickly, her cheeks starting to flush badly.

As Shepard and Tali left the bar area, they had failed to notice the two men seated in the corner, a distinct absence of drinks set upon their table. The two wore vacant expressions and did nothing but watch from their position. As the human and quarian walked out of their sight, the two humans slowly stood up and strode down the opposite staircase, quickly getting a fix on their two targets again.

They held back by thirty meters as they walked out of the casino and down the strip, waiting to see which place that Shepard and Tali would insert themselves into next.

* * *

"Do you want to talk, Tali?" Shepard asked around bites of his gnocchi.

"What about?" Tali said as she set her food tube down.

The restaurant they had chosen was a modern asari cuisine place that also had a focus on human Italian food for some reason. The entire floor was one large aquarium, casting a cool blue light from underneath everyone's feet. The moot was upbeat, the waiters prompt, and the food tasty. But there were still things to address at the moment.

Shepard set his fork down after he swallowed his food. "You've been acting kind of stiff since the casino. Did you want to talk about it at all?"

Tali knew that Shepard had not missed her obvious body cues in his direction but heated up in embarrassment nonetheless. She pushed aside her tube as she leaned over the table, Shepard mimicking her movements to make her feel safer, less exposed.

"John…I…" she grasped helplessly at the air before she decided upon the words she wanted to say. "I know that…that it must have been nice to see Garrus and Liara today, but…I just can't get this feeling out of my head!"

"Was it because I asked them to come over after lunch when we had previously decided to leave that whole block of time for ourselves?" Shepard asked earnestly. "That was my fault for not passing the idea by you, Tali, and I'm sorry that I did that."

"No!" she emphatically shook her head. "It's not the act of inviting them over that has upset me. I _know_ that we'll have plenty of alone time later, John. It's…it's _who_ you invited that I'm…I'm worried about."

Shepard had a feeling about the outcome but let his expression change anyway so that he could be seen as accepting the revelation nonetheless. "Liara," he nodded slightly. "Now I understand."

"Do you?" Tali almost pleaded. "John, I…I know it must sound stupid, but…even after you said you wanted me…all those years ago…I still can't accept the fact that Liara…" she drooped her head regretfully. "…That Liara got you first."

Before Tali could pull her hand off the table, Shepard quickly grasped it, gently squeezing it in a tangible act of affection. "I know exactly what you're going through, Tali," he whispered across the table. "I should have realized it earlier but you don't have to be ashamed for what you're going through."

"Ashamed?" Tali said quietly. "Five years have passed and I _still_ haven't gotten rid of my misgivings against Liara! I should have gotten over something like that by now but I _haven't!_ I just…it's because I haven't seen you in so long that I might think…that she'd take you back."

Shepard almost gave a low chuckle at the prospect's silliness but held back for fear of offending Tali. Instead, he reached over to raise her drooped head so that she could look into his eyes and determine for herself what was true.

"Tali," he began, "the past few years have been hard on us, more than we ever expected. People change in that amount of time, for better or for worse." He smiled, continuing to stare into her ghostly eyes. "But, consider this, who was the first person I contacted when I arrived on the Citadel to let them know I was around? Who was the one person that I made _deliberate_ contact with so that I could get another chance to see them again?"

"M-Me," Tali stammered, now realizing what this meant.

"You. You, Tali, and no one else. When I was with Liara that one night, I knew that I had made a mistake immediately afterward. We didn't match, we didn't fit. We had just been looking for companionship before a deadly mission and that just complicated things for us."

Shepard raised his forearms and lowered his head onto them so that he was supported on the table. "I have always felt comfortable with you, Tali. Out of all the things that I have done in my sorry, messed up life, being with you, no matter how fleeting it was, was probably the best decision I ever made. I just want to let you know, Tali, that you don't need to worry about that at all, because I doubt I'll ever care about someone as deeply as I care about you now."

Letting out a shuddering sigh, Tali visibly relaxed in her seat. Giving out a tiny squeak before sniffing, her eyes darted frantically while Shepard held her hand. "You mean…" she said, trying to appear very much like a strong admiral instead of a scared and nervous child, "…after all this time, you still l-"

"_Admiral Shepard!_" someone called, making both Shepard and Tali jump in their seats.

With a patter of feet on the glass floor, a small figure darted between the tables, the maître d' chasing after her. Grabbing an unoccupied chair, the person quickly sat down to the side of the table, in between Shepard and Tali, and began panting from her running. The host saw her seated at the table and realizing she was not being shooed away, gave up his pursuit and went back to his post at the doors.

Shepard looked hard at the new arrival. The fabric of her suit was a light grey, a straight line pattern scything down her hood. Clasps and belts hung around her and her blood-red visor barely hid a pair of familiar glowing eyes from behind the smoky curtain. At her side, she carried a simple pistol and a combat knife hung loosely around her waist. Shepard had seen so many quarians in his lifetime that he was not startled of the sight but incredible bemused regardless.

"Admiral Shepard," the quarian breathed. "I have to talk to you right aw-" She stopped mid-sentence as soon as she noticed Tali staring at her, also with a befuddled expression. "Oh, Keelah," the quarian moaned. "I didn't see you there, Admiral Zorah. I'm…I'm not part of your crew but I have heard of you-"

"Please," Tali cut the young quarian off. She hated praise being heaped upon her from anyone other than Shepard. She was disappointed that her intimate conversation with Shepard had been interrupted, but she knew it wouldn't be fitting of her to send this young quarian away so suddenly. She just boiled internally instead. "Keelah se'lai, miss…?"

"Nela," the woman said. "I'm Nela'Tiloc nar Ozens, Admiral Zorah."

"Call me Tali, please. You're not under my command and I'm off duty at the moment."

"You're on your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked, noting the use of the word "nar."

Nela bobbed her head. "Yes, that's right. I've been on here for-" she stopped and shook her head. "Never mind all that. I need to tell you something _right now_, Admirals. There are people here that want to see you dead!"

Shepard and Tali shared a concerned look before turning back to Nela. "And what makes you so sure about that?" he asked her.

"I was scanning and analyzing comm channels from the construction teams outside where I work. We were rebuilding the docks on strut five while I intercepted an interesting signal. I caught a snippet on one of my breaks and I heard something that sounded bad. I took a recording of it just in case."

"Let's hear it, then."

Nela dutifully obeyed and quickly activated her omni-tool. The audio player opened and the young quarian selected the file in question, a raspy voice barking through her suit's speakers. _"Saber squad, Shepard and Zorah are in the restaurant. Assemble within fifteen mics and then we're going in to take them out."_

Shepard felt goosebumps rise along his flesh. The fact that he and Tali had been specifically named meant that this was not a false alarm and that there could very well be a tangible threat waiting. "Did you catch a name?" he asked the quarian, noting the similarities between her and Tali: both eager young quarians willing to help. "Did they indicate who they were working for at all?"

Nela shook her head. "That was the only passage that wasn't obstructed by static. I'm sorry, Admiral. I…I wish I could show you more."

"Who would do this?" Tali wondered out loud. "I don't know anyone else that would place a hit on us, do you, John?"

"No," he said, which worried him immensely. "Nela, play the transmission again," he ordered.

She complied and Shepard's brow furrowed in concern. "Fifteen mics," he murmured. "That's fifteen minutes. Nela, when did you receive this transmission?"

"Umm…" she checked the time stamp on her omni-tool. "Fourteen minutes ago."

Movement flickered in the background and Shepard spotted a large figure heft a familiar looking object. His combat reflexes kicking in immediately, he shouted, "DOWN!" and flipped their table over seconds before gunfire erupted around the restaurant.

Bullets pinged off the surface and the initial entry bullets embedded themselves in the hard surface of the table and immediately disintegrated. Tali and Nela crouched alongside Shepard behind the table, hearing the roar of rifles echo around them.

Screams and stomps from panicked patrons obscured the gunshot noises. They proceeded to stampede out of the restaurant, wanting to get away from the chaos as quickly as possible. In seconds, the entire place was evacuated, save for the group blocking the closest exit, and the three hunkered behind the table.

Smoothly, in a practiced motion, Shepard reached inside his jacket and procured his Carnifex and Tali withdrew her Paladin from her sheath. Nela looked at the both of them, wide-eyed, before she steeled herself and whipped her Predator out, a quick study.

Shepard leaned around the table and quickly withdrew when eager fire raced toward his face. Chunks of the table bounced away as the bullets chewed them up.

"Damn!" Shepard yelled. "I couldn't see how many there were. Shields still strong, Tali?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Do you have a plan or do you want _me_ to come up with one this time?"

"Do you have something in mind?"

"As a matter of fact," Tali growled, "I do!" Flicking a button on her omni-tool, Shepard heard yowls of pain as Tali's combat drone materialized behind their attackers, already moving forward and zapping the nearest intruder that it could detect. As the combat form wheeled to disrupt the tech attack, Tali rose out of cover, taking advantage of the distraction, and put a bullet in the nearest enemy's head, the heavy shot immediately careening through shields, armor, and flesh.

She dropped back down before anyone could fire upon her to see Shepard give her a satisfied smile. "I saw at least seven more of them," she said. "I don't think we have enough shots to take them all on, John."

Nela's eyes were wide as she realized that the two admirals were not carrying any extra thermal clips. She began to grasp at her gun and started to moan in fear. Tali heard her and gently put her arm around the girl. "It'll be fine," she assured her. "We'll get out of this together, I promise."

The young quarian shut her eyes fearfully but nodded at Tali's words.

Meanwhile, Shepard heard a glass become dislodged by a foot, the cup rolling around the floor. With his eyes, he tracked the direction that the glass was moving in and began turning his head in that direction. Carefully, he edged out to see the hint of a black boot step into view, the top half of the man obscured by a nearby tablecloth. Shepard quickly held his arm out and fired at the boot. A spurt of blood followed by a yell told him that he had hit his mark. With a grunt, the man fell clutching his foot, and Shepard shot him in the head.

The man was wearing a set of black and grey combat armor, from what Shepard could see. The helmet was round and the optics were aquamarine, and if he looked closely he could see a faint camouflage pattern draping the chest and legs of the man. He was carrying what looked to be communications packs on their backs and he clutched a heavy rifle in his other hand.

Shepard wondered if all of them were similarly armed and ground his teeth in worry.

Now there came a series of heavier and faster vibrations which indicated that someone was hurtling at their position. With his hands on the floor, Shepard felt that the next foe was going to run straight at the table and lean over so that he could take them out like fish in a barrel.

With no surprises, that's exactly what the man tried to do but Shepard quickly grabbed the man's gun arm and wrenched it down, dislocating the shoulder. That caused the soldier to bend down over the table, allowing for him to be incapacitated just enough for Tali to stab him in the throat with her knife, causing a rush of hot blood to splash down on the ground.

Before the soldier could succumb to the whim of gravity, Tali quickly grabbed the collar of the armor, her fingers becoming slick with blood, and scanned the code readout laser engraved on the surface with her omni-tool. Releasing her fingers, the man fell back into the open with a combination of a gurgle and wheeze, his rifle still firmly in his grip.

Understandably frustrated with the loss of three of their squad mates, the remaining five began to cautiously creep forward, clumped in one group as they maneuvered around the bar for a better shot. Shepard checked his gun and found that he only had five shots left. Tali had three but Nela's still had a fresh clip. It still wouldn't be enough to take these guys unless they got inventive, fast.

A shimming from the aquatic floor underneath him caught his eye. Watching as the fish embedded in the floor swam amicably in their own little environment, oblivious to the action from the world above, Shepard noted that there was an unnatural contrast between the cool blue water and the harsh red blood that seemed to glow from the eerie lighting. The spilled plasma looked like red paint and it ran across the floor in the rivulets etched into the glass itself. Some of the blood spiraled, some of it ran in straight lines, but it always followed the patterns set forth by the glass.

_The glass._

"Shoot the floor!" Shepard urgently whispered before he quickly stood up. Tali and Nela watched the human's movements in shock before they too stood from cover, their objective giving them a newfound courage. A few bullets instantly registered on them but their shields still held fast. However, they had to act quickly before they were overwhelmed.

The first shot from Shepard's gun only made a tiny hole, sending sandy particles of glass and microscopic bits of water flying. The mercenaries ignored it, even when Nela rattled off her entire clip as well. Shepard finished up his gun, downtrodden at the fact that their bullets could not even produce a crack in the surface. It was too strong for even his hand cannon.

But Tali still had yet to fire. Aiming her enormous Paladin precisely, she squeezed her trigger and the slug rocketed into the glass underneath the feet of the mercs. The floor shifted slightly and some of them looked down in confusion to figure out what was going on. Most likely hiding a smile behind her visor, Tali quickly depressed the Paladin's trigger twice and watched as the glass finally shattered into a thousand pieces, opening the floor up in the middle of the establishment.

Screams from the soldiers accompanied by a few gunfire bursts from their fingers clenching in panic, they fell through the floor and down into the shipping lanes of the Citadel, bouncing off the windows and neon advertisements that lined the sides of the walls. With a rushing noise, all of the water quickly drained out of the rest of the floor in short order to create a makeshift waterfall, leaving some of the fish gasping in their tank, the majority having been sucked out when the glass gave.

"All right, we're leaving," Shepard ordered as he grabbed Tali and Nela, already beginning to lead them out. The trio edged around the jagged crater, making sure not to cut themselves on the shards of glass left lying around.

"John," Tali gasped as Nela's head whirled in a frenzy, "where are we going to go now?"

"Back to my apartment," he whispered to her. "We're going to rest and regroup for a moment." He looked in both directions down the strip for any sign of the mysterious soldiers before pronouncing it clear. His eyes locked in a singular direction, as dark as they had ever been before.

"And then we'll get some answers."

* * *

_**A/N: I decided to combine two chapters from my outline into one, which meant that I could take a little longer with writing this.**_

_**Now the plot's ramping itself up, but I believe that it won't end up as predictable as you think it will be. There's still plenty of room for a dark shift in tone here or there. Heh...heh...**_

_**Oh yeah, and to any of you who play Evolve (great game), I'm going to need a few more party members with me to tackle those damn monsters so PM me if you want to give it a shot!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Archival Remnants

Garrus and Liara had walked into Shepard's apartment five minutes prior and immediately noted that no one was home to welcome them. The security systems had remotely scanned their biometrics and, true to Shepard's word, invited them in. Seeing as they had no way of telling when the two would be back, they had decided to lounge around for a bit before they would start to get impatient.

Their concern turned out to be remarkably short-lived. In almost no time since their arrival, Shepard and Tali, followed by an unfamiliar third person, burst into the apartment which caused Garrus and Liara, who were sitting over by the fireplace, to sit up in alarm. Shepard was wild-eyed while Tali and Nela shifted on their feet, coming down from their adrenaline rush.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Garrus asked as Shepard swiftly locked the door behind him.

"I had a momentary callback to my previous days," Shepard replied as he moved away from the doors. Garrus was about to ask what the hell that meant when Shepard beat him to it. "A whole gang of mercenaries jumped us during lunch, Garrus. All of them were well armed and armored."

"You mean that they were firing on you? Like, _shooting_ at you?"

"Can you think of a better way to dispose of someone quickly and loudly? We had to shoot the floor underneath these guys so that we could escape."

"Goddess," Liara gaped. "Do you know who would do such a thing?"

"Haven't a clue," Shepard grimaced as he moved over to the long desk behind the kitchen. Curious, the others quickly followed while Shepard engaged the extranet access panel on the desk. While he was booting up a program, he momentarily looked up to see everyone circling around the table. "Oh, by the way, this is Nela'Tiloc, everyone." He gestured to the diminutive quarian, who shuffled her feet sheepishly. "She's the one who ensured that Tali and I got back here alive."

"What _is_ it with you and quarian damsels in distress, Shepard?" Garrus asked, resulting in a light slap on the arm from Tali.

After giving the turian a slight dose of physical pain, Tali moved forward and transferred the recorded contents on her omni-tool onto the desk, projecting a series of images onto it. Tali plucked one of these images out of the air and focused it on the strange symbol of a tiger baring its fangs that was laser-engraved on the armor she scanned, as if the big feline was in the middle of a pounce.

"I got a scan off of this one during the fighting," Tali indicated. "I don't recognize the symbol on their armor, though. It's definitely not reminiscent of the major gangs out of the Terminus, that's for sure."

"That's right," Liara said as her own software finished analyzing the images. "It's definitely not the Suns, Blood Pack, or any of the Eclipse. From what my Shadow Broker resources tell me, the snarling tiger is the symbol for the private military group CAT6, a group of mercenaries for hire."

Shepard frowned at the news. "Based off Category 6, the term for Alliance soldiers that are dishonorably discharged?"

"Appears to be so," Liara nodded gravely. "It's primarily a human-centric group and, given the name, all members were dishonorably discharged from the military and others have appalling histories of steroid abuse. I see that the previous Shadow Broker frequently funded some of their endeavors, actually. However, the data in my memory banks cannot access it, like the information had been previously erased or something."

"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Nela piped up. Everyone turned to look at her and she faltered for a second before it was clear that she was able to proceed. "I mean, the Shadow Broker has files on everyone and everything in the galaxy. A missing data set shows that the last Broker wanted to keep a secret and ensured that no one else would find it."

"You're a quick study," Liara noted. "How did you come to be acquainted with Shepard?"

"She intercepted a transmission regarding a hit on Tali and I and immediately sought us out to warn us," Shepard answered in Nela's stead. "We managed to fight off the squad that was intended for us, thanks to her."

Liara smiled but crossed her arms in a manner that was distantly cold. She turned to Nela and raised an eyebrow at her. "You seem to know an awful lot, Miss Tiloc. May I ask how you came by this information?"

"By having my tool scan and clean up stray transmissions on multiple frequencies on a radio dish that I was repairing over on Arm Five," she answered confidently. "It recorded several of them and it picked up on a few rogue words used in a transmission that set off my security mandated firewalls. I used that relay to hone in on the signal in question and listened to the critical strand that led me to act quickly. I can show you my collection process, if you would like."

Liara shook her head, caught off guard that Nela was aware that she was suspicious of the young quarian. She certainly hid a reserved exterior behind that mask, as tenacious as someone else she knew very well. "There will be no need," she assured. "I'm confident that your methods were reasonably sound."

"Which brings us to our next problem," Shepard sighed. "Trying to find the rest of these guys before they find us again."

"You really think they'll try to attack you here?" Garrus asked.

"Why not? My apartment's in every Citadel registry. Hell, if anyone wanted to kill me they'd just ask for my name on the station VI. The unfortunate truth is that this is the only place on this station that we can regroup for a moment, but we need to move fast and make the next strike before we are caught off guard again."

"And I think I have an idea of how to do that," Liara offered. "Tali, can you pull up the scans of that CAT6 solider again?"

Tali nodded and the large imaged hovered a foot above the table. Liara quickly copied the symbol and put the image into a program that begin to auto-scan, a progress bar now appearing over the picture.

"What are you doing with that?" Tali asked.

"The Citadel is networked extensively with cameras," Liara explained. "By programming every single one on the station to search for the CAT6 logo, we can be able to isolate all of their troops and figure out where they are highly concentrated. We should be able to pick up multiple hits without us having to go out and search for them with no leads. It's like looking through an extensive directory."

"Which could denote a base of sorts," Garrus whispered, his mandibles twitching in excitement. "Brilliant!"

Bits of code denoting cameras parked on all levels of the station flashed by in nanoseconds. Liara remained fixated on her omni-tool and everyone eagerly waited for the progress bar to fill. Fueled by the high-speed connection, it only took less than two minutes for the scan to run its course and Liara projected her results up on the main screen.

The asari pointed at a large clump of yellow highlighted dots against a map of the Citadel itself. "Hmm, it seems that the majority of hits the cameras registered are located in a subbasement just at the bottom of Arm Two."

Garrus stepped forward, his eyes rapt on the images. "The basement of Arm Two is the Archives," he said. "That must be a mistake. Can your cameras get any images of inside the areas in question?"

Liara tapped on a few controls but to no avail. "Nothing," she scowled. "The entire area is cordoned off to me. I can access the basic processes for the camera, such as their serial numbers, but it has too much security that is preventing me to actually look through them inside the Archives themselves. Best that the cameras can do is to notify me that what we're looking for is somewhere in that basement."

"But that's impossible. The Archives can only be accessed by Council members and Spectres. A private security group like CAT6 could not gain entrance at all."

"What exactly do you know about the Archives, Garrus?" Tali asked in interest.

"I've never been there personally, but I heard that it's an enormous warehouse filled to the brim with catalogued items of importance. Beyond that, I don't know much else."

"The Broker has files related to the Archives and what they contain," Liara said. "Based on accounts from…Tela Vasir, of all people…the Archives hold a wealth of knowledge detailing significant galactic events. Records for all Citadel citizens are housed there, every single scrap of information one could ever dig up. However, the accounts indicate that a person can only change or access the records housed in the Archives that correspond to their biological marker. A handprint, to be precise. Kind of like how a bank works."

"So they have a wealth of information there and they can technically do nothing with it?" Shepard asked. "That seems like a waste of time for this group. Would there be any other reason why they would choose that location?"

"No," Liara whispered. "But it's the only lead we have. And…" she pointed to the map, where a series of dots broke off from the main clump, "…it looks like they're sending a few more goons this way. We're going to have to leave in the next ten minutes, I'd figure, if we want to avoid a fight."

"We'll avoid that fight," Shepard growled. "But we'll deliberately start _another_."

Without waiting for a cue from anyone else, he strode out of the room to the hallway on his left. Tali quickly chased after him and the remaining three, after realizing that they had been left behind, followed in hot pursuit.

Once they rounded the corner, Garrus let out a growl of surprise at the room that lay before them. "Spirits, Shepard…what is this?"

The room was an armory, plain and simple. Guns and knives lined the walls, a weapon modification table lay placed in the center, and pieces of armor were dispersed over the floor. Shepard just shrugged as he slid out a large drawer containing a set of grey armor after knocking aside a set of power tools. "Oh, you mean this?" he gestured around the room. "I converted the second guest room about two years back since I never really had a need for it. I just needed a place to store my stuff ever since the Normandy's primary function was delegated to more diplomatic assignments, rendering the bulk of the armaments housed on the ship to be rather useless."

As Shepard began to slide on the thick armor, Liara moved to one of the walls and plucked a Kassa Locust submachine gun from the rack. She hefted it, testing its weight before nodding in approval. "Then I guess," she shrugged as she holstered the weapon at her side, "that because you've now indirectly involved us, Shepard, you've now essentially recruited us to fight with you, right?"

"Wasn't really part of the plan," Shepard admitted as he lifted the chest piece over his head, beginning to clasp it together. "But I _would_ appreciate a little help from you guys, especially since that you're the only backup that can be adequately gathered in short notice, seeing that Kaidan, Wrex, James, and all the rest are lightyears away, so…"

"All right, all right," Garrus interrupted as he procured a Black Widow sniper rifle. "You know that we're not going to leave you hanging, Shepard." He checked to see if the rifle carried a full load of thermal clips before he tested the sights. "Besides, it's been too long since I've been in the fight. I'm itching for some practice. Also, I see you've picked up one of my armor sets that I left behind on the Normandy. If I can just borrow that back…"

"I'm coming too," Nela offered as Garrus headed into the closet to change, stepping around the table to pick up an Avenger assault rifle. "I want to see this thing through to the end. I don't want to be left behind, knowing that I couldn't do more, that I possibly didn't change anything in the long run."

As Shepard slid his gauntlets on, he eyed the quarian, noting her poised position, her tense hands. "Have you ever fired a rifle in a combat scenario?" he asked her gently.

"Not directly," Nela sighed. "I was on my birth ship during the war to retake the homeworld but, since I wasn't an official crewmember, I couldn't get involved." Watching Shepard's face harden, she raised her volume in an attempt to penetrate his armor. "_Please!_" she begged. "I'm a good shot, best out of all my friends! I can't just be left behind like this, Admiral Shepard. Surely you know how I feel!"

"He does," Tali said quietly. "We both know that your willingness to help reflects well on you during your Pilgrimage. You may come, Nela, and I'll even forward a recommendation to your choice of captain when this is all over."

"Really?" the quarian squeaked. "Thank you, Admiral Zorah! You will not regret this in the slightest."

Shepard quietly blew air out of his nose in the softest form possible of a sigh but Tali still whirled around like he had cursed out loud. "What is it, John?" she asked him.

"I…I don't…" he breathed out heavily. "It's just that I don't want to put her in a dangerous position, Tali. No one is playing around here and being around me could put her in serious danger."

"Really, John?" Tali responded with amusement. "Was_ I_ any different when I pleaded to come with you to find Saren?"

"Well…no, but…"

"So how is Nela asking to assist us any more dangerous than the prospect of you going off to fight a rogue Spectre?"

"Not much, but even so-"

"John, she's coming along. She knows what she's getting into. Don't push her away from this, please."

Shepard looked at his dear friend, watching her stand her ground, weighed down by a subject of high importance. He saw her stare straight at him, unflinching and firmly dedicated to what she knew to be right. By speaking from experience, then Shepard had to concede that Tali's point outweighed his own feeble argument.

"Very well," he granted. "But I'll remain with her at all times, okay? That means you're going to be pairing off with Liara for when we split into separate groups to cover more ground. Do you think you'll be able to handle that?"

"I'm sure I can hold off my homicidal thoughts for the time being," she replied coyly, handing Shepard the helmet that completed his armor.

The covering slid over his head and air hissed as the vacuum seals pushed any excess air out. Tiny lines for the optics glowed an electric blue and Shepard flexed the joints of the Arelius Mk. 32 Combat Armor. Still officially in the prototype stage, the Mk. 32 was gifted from the Arelius company to Shepard as a token of his efforts during the war. Plus, it also gave the company some good PR as well. Shepard found it to be bulkier than his old N7 armor but the restrictive movement came with the benefit of more powerful shields, added protection, and embedded electrodes on the gauntlet that emitted a paralyzing voltage on whoever they touched. That was an option usually meant for police use, but Arelius threw it in anyway, wanting make sure that the Savior of the Galaxy was properly equipped to tackle any foe.

It would've been nice if he had this armor _while_ facing the Reapers, but that point had been moot for a long time now.

Shepard tested the electrodes and watched as blue electricity crackled around his gauntlets. Switching them off, he glanced at his squad, and saw that all of them were fully prepared for what they were about to face. They held their weapons, checked their shields, and steeled their gazes for they had accepted that they were about to plunge once more into the abyss.

With the helmet on his face, Shepard looked more imposing as the war hero straightened within the armor's hard embrace. It had been a long time since he was preparing to go back into combat, but it wasn't his safety he was worried about, it was the safety of everyone else.

He did not want anyone, especially Tali, to wind up getting hurt today. He had sacrificed enough in order to prevent her to be exposed to this life again. If she got even a scratch on her, he would-

"Weapons check," Shepard barked, the helmet giving his voice an eerie grittiness as he swallowed his dark thoughts. "Make sure your slides are stocked with clips. Load up on ammo if you haven't already. Remember to watch your shield levels at all times."

Everyone quickly glanced at their supplies and looked up at the same time to indicate their readiness. Shepard felt no pride from this, though. He only felt tired. Tired that the violence had come back to him, that he couldn't escape it.

This had to be the last time. It just had to be.

Shepard grabbed a Mattock rifle from the weapons rack and did the same checks before stowing it onto his back. "Okay," he nodded. "Let's head out, people!"

* * *

It took two skycars to transport the five of them to the Archives entrance. No resistance from any more mercenaries was encountered along the way but everyone knew that they were not going to be out of the woods for very long. They had to pass through multiple security checks and laser scans as they proceeded to their destination, which were bypassed easily due to Shepard's Spectre status encompassing everyone in the group. Once the final scan was completed, a large hangar door unlocked, and with a wailing of klaxons, creaked open to allow the skycars passage.

The five of them quickly unloaded themselves on the landing pad and moved to the lone door in the corner. The entrance to the Archives was nothing special, just a nondescript door the same size as any, standard to accommodate any species on the Citadel. Based on Garrus' and Liara's rumors, Shepard had been expecting a rather more theatrical sort of threshold that they would have to cross.

Maybe he just got carried away with his imagination.

Tali elbowed him in the side as he approached, pointing towards a small biometric scanner to the immediate right of the door, housed within the wall. Shepard nodded and unlatched his glove from his gauntlet, sliding it off his hand so that he could place his bare palm over the scanner.

There was a burst of heat, nothing unbearable, and a flash of red light came from the scanner as his prints were digitally lifted. In an instant, they were compared against the prints the database already had on file and, sensing a match, unlocked the door and opened for them.

All of them stepped through before the door could close on them and they breathed out at the sight overhead. It looked like the most complex warehouse any of them had ever seen. The sheer amount of container tubes racked along the walls and the rails allowing for fast transport crisscrossed the rafters above them. The dark lighting only allowed the few glittering diodes to sparkle like jewels and the data consoles that were spaced out intermittently emitted a warm glow, inviting others to bask in knowledge.

"Keelah," Tali gasped.

"It's enormous," Liara said in a daze. "More information than I could ever have dreamed…"

"We'll have no time to savor it, though," Shepard gritted, his mind already back to work. "Now we're definitely going to have to cover more ground, considering the size of this place. Tali, Liara, you guys take the higher catwalk. Nela and I will take the lower. Garrus, you find a nest and provide overwatch for us, okay?"

"Got it, boss," Garrus said as he slung his rifle over his back and headed for a ladder so that he could clamber up it.

Tali and Liara glanced at each other with momentary worry before the quarian turned back to face Shepard. "Okay, John," she said, her voice supported by something other than fear.

"Good," he breathed. "Move out."

The paths set in place were relatively easy to follow. The catwalks provided no alternative routes and the aisles that had been piled with crates were easily passed simply by walking on top of the container tubes. All they had to do was watch their footing and make sure they didn't slip off to fall several stories to their death.

Shepard ducked underneath a railing, waiting for Nela to join him on the next catwalk. So far, they had not encountered any enemies in this place, which was odd seeing as the majority of Liara's scan indicated that this was the correct place where they'd find the people who had tried to kill him. Unless the Archives were simply more gigantic than he could fathom, then that could mean that they could be searching this place for quite a while.

Shepard moved past a large holographic display in the next room, which ignited when he tripped the motion sensors. Shepard whirled in the direction of the movement, lowering his rifle when he saw that a hologram depicting the asari discovering the Citadel began to play. A distant narration accompanied the images that were projected, summarizing the key events that led to the rise of the asari as arguably the most dominant species in the galaxy at the time.

As if on cue, several more holograms began to pop up around the tiny room, each detailing highly significant events that Shepard had not examined in broader detail before. The Krogan Rebellions, their subsequent culling, the Morning War, and even the Reapers were all theatrically announced, the same narrator sounding jumbled as the multiple instances of her voice created a smooth cacophony around the two of them.

Seeing as the room was clear and that to linger any longer would result in more time wasted, Shepard hurried out the next door, motioning for Nela to follow closely.

"_Shepard_," Garrus whispered in his ear.

"Go ahead, Garrus."

"_I'm seeing two guys wearing the same armor that you scanned at the restaurant. They're about fifty meters from your position and they're heavily armed_."

"I don't think they're here for a social call. Do you have good shots?"

"_Yep. You want me to take them?_"

"Do it."

Five seconds later, two zips, muffled by Garrus' silenced rifle, sang out and two thuds echoed from behind a stack of containers. Shepard listened intently after that to see if the slight ruckus had caused an alarm to be raised.

"_Good shots_," Garrus crowed. "_They're not getting up from that_."

"Nice work," Shepard said. "Keep an eye out. We're moving in."

He edged around the corner, making sure that Nela was right on his back. He tenderly walked forward, beginning to see the faint outline of two pairs of legs lying on the ground. Rifle trained parallel to the ground regardless, Shepard walked forward only to confirm for himself that the two troopers that Garrus had spotted were definitely not going to make it. Their lack of heads and the dispersal of the pulpy residue thoroughly corroborated the turian's statement. Nela did not wince but averted her gaze so that she wouldn't look upon the grisly sight for any longer than necessary.

Shepard was about to walk up to the next door when it suddenly opened without his input. In a flash, multiple soldiers entered and opened fire on the pair standing out in the open.

* * *

Suppressed by several layers of walls, the fighting that had erupted in the upper level of the Archives never made it out past the floor that Tali and Liara were on. After encountering no one for fifteen minutes, they had wandered without warning into a whole cluster of the same black troopers who were milling about in the next room. Looking just as surprised as the two standing in the back, everyone surged to bring their weapons up as the gunshots began in earnest.

One of the troopers was shunted back by a biotic burst from Liara, who finished him off with a double tap to the head from her submachine gun. Tali engaged her combat drone and took off the leg of another enemy who had gotten too close to their cover with her shotgun.

"John, do you read?" Tali yelled into her comm. "We've encountered heavy resistance, please acknowledge!"

There was nothing but static on the line and Tali had no time to dwell on it at the moment. Hoping that Shepard was occupied at the moment to warrant his loss of communications, Tali knew that she could simply not focus clearly if she was concentrating on two things at once.

Shouts of panic from the troopers raced at them and gunshots chipped away at the crates that Tali and Liara had hunkered behind. The crackle of zaps the combat drone was giving the troopers was almost predictable in that it produced the exact same reaction from every single foe Tali faced.

They always went for the drone first.

Switching to her pistol, Tali leaned out of her cover and loosed three shots at the soldiers that had their backs to them while they rounded on her drone. The first shot deflected off of a commando's shields, causing him to stagger forward. The next one caught him in the small of his back with not enough time for the man to react, or for his shields to recharge. Bone popped and blood exploded as the heavy round tore through the man's intestines and out his front. He barely had time to catch his falling guts before he died.

The third round Tali fired had been straight and true. It rocketed through the helmet of a soldier, popping the top of his skull off in a display not unlike the pyrotechnics that Shepard called "fireworks."

While the rest of the troopers now firmly focused their attention on Tali, Liara took advantage of the opportunity to surge out of cover while glowing with biotic energy and unleashed it all in a powerful shockwave. Men bounced off the hard walls like rag dolls, many of them perishing from broken necks. The ones who were still alive were too stunned to react accordingly, allowing for Liara and Tali to quickly dispose of them with single shots to the head. Their bloody work finished for now, the two of them hugged the wall as they refilled their guns with more thermal clips.

"Not much different than all those Cerberus goons we've taken out in the past, huh?" Liara quipped as she checked the status of her submachine gun.

"Frankly, it's almost disappointing," Tali admitted as she waited for all of her tech processes to recharge. "We've done the same thing over and over again and we're not even getting a good challenge out of it."

The two moved to the door that the group of mercenaries had been guarding. They circled in their positions, scanning up high to check if there were any more foes that they had initially missed.

"Did you get through to Shepard?" Liara asked.

"I don't know. I've received no response, which could mean a few things. One is that he's tied down with enemies like we just were, another is that we're being jammed, or that he's…"

"Well," Liara snorted, "he's certainly not dead. A human like that is not going to get taken down so easily by a few makeshift terrorists. I'm sure he's fine."

"Yeah," Tali muttered distantly. "He should be."

Entering into the next area, Tali and Liara lightly stepped over a crack between a cargo tube and the unloading station. They were about to make the swift transition on the other side when, all of a sudden, a force field flared up on both sides, effectively trapping them in the tube.

"Hey!" Tali shouted as she beat her fists on the impenetrable snare.

"What's going on?" Liara asked before she fell over on her side, Tali doing the same, as the tube began to accelerate. Their momentum carried them down to the ground and there they stayed while they were whisked off to an unknown part of the station. The tube seemed to be steadily picking up speed, causing the bone-crushing force to press Liara and Tali down as they raced through the Archives.

Heart in their throats, all they could do was hold on.

* * *

Garrus breathed slowly as he shifted the rifle in his position. Lying prone between a rack of cargo tubes, the turian was confident that he was practically invisible to the naked eye, something that is critical for a sniper to accomplish.

Sniping is a job that consists mostly of waiting and to pull off such a job, one has to be incredibly on the patient side. Garrus, right now, was halfway into his comfort zone, only being held back as he knew in the back of his mind, that the stakes this time heavily involved his friends. A mistake on his part could result in disastrous consequences.

Which is why when the next grouping of mercenaries showed up, he made sure to shoot the one bringing up the rear first, downing him with a single shot to the head.

Comically, the rest of the troopers were not paying attention to the direction where the wound was inflicted and proceeded to march back the way they came, their weapons drawn. Almost temped to laugh, Garrus squeezed the trigger to the Black Widow and watched as the new rear guard dropped, also from a head wound.

The remaining two guys now were stuck between two of their dead colleagues. The edged back and forth, unsure of what to do when Garrus' next shot pierced one of their chests. However, that bullet had enough momentum to burst through the man's central cavity and slice through the next one's heart. Surrounded by chunks of their own organs, the two collapsed, bringing a lull over the battlefield once again.

"Shepard," Garrus spoke into the comm. "Have encountered and neutralized enemy resistance. Have you identified the objective?"

There was no answer. Garrus tapped his earpiece but knew it was a lost cause when it came to technology. All he could hear at the moment was static and he knew absolutely jack when it came to telegraphy to make sense of the current situation. Mentally stuck in his position, he scowled and shouldered the rifle once again, waiting for the next patrol to chance upon their dead buddies so that he could dispatch them in the same fashion.

Garrus figured that half an hour would be ample time before he would start to get worried.

* * *

A grenade from Shepard effectively downed half the attacking force that spilled from the far side. Limbs flew up in the air as men were blown in half, only remaining alive for a few more seconds thanks to the adrenaline overload in their brains. Nela admirably covered a few of the stragglers with her rifle, keeping it under tight control while the recoil made the gun bounce in her hands.

With their combined level of fire, the mercenaries never stood a chance. Even though their enemies deployed snipers and riot units, they ultimately wilted under the volley of bullets that the two of them provided. One such soldier caught so much of the fire that he seemed to fly apart in a cloud of blood, splattering his cohort with gore. The red-painted solider merely stared at the spot his partner had just occupied seconds before Shepard stepped out and shot him in the neck.

A guttural roar sounded and a final enemy raced from a maze of databanks with a knife in hand. He was too close for Shepard to get off a shot with his rifle, so he dropped it and sidestepped the soldier's wild slash. When the man wheeled to a stop, Shepard caught up with him and grabbed his wrist, the one that held the knife.

He twisted in place and was rewarded with a sickening crack as the man's arm broke. The soldier stared at his maimed limb for a split second and began to shriek in pain soon after. His fingers automatically opened, dropping the knife, but Shepard caught it with his other hand in mid-flight. With a savage surge upward, he thrust the knife through the unarmored chin, sending the blade up into the man's brain. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the mercenary fell.

That was the last of the enemies in the area, allowing the two a moment to breathe. Shepard glanced at Nela, half-expecting her to falter at any moment, but the quarian showed no signs of stopping. Rather, she was getting more and more determined the farther they traveled into this place. There was definitely the spark of a soldier in her and Shepard mused at what else the woman could do while under pressure. She was certainly performing up to and in some cases, even exceeding expectations.

He glanced down at his comm and keyed it but only received static. There were no acknowledgement lights from Tali or anyone else. Frustrated, he rebooted his software only to find that the same problem was plaguing him, but he couldn't do a thing about it at the moment. All he could do was press forward and hope for that light at the end of the tunnel to come about soon.

The next area was just as darkly lit as the last one. Perhaps the Council did not have the budget for proper lighting in this place. Seeing as the war had taken its financial toll on just about everything, this was a possibility that Shepard had to see as being pretty legitimate. He made a note to ask about that later.

The room was separated by a container track, which was unoccupied at the moment. Glancing both ways so that he would be able to see an incoming tube belting in his direction, he hopped over the gap after he determined it was safe. Nela mimicked his movements and also landed gracefully on the other side, bending her knees to take the shock.

Shepard glanced at the hallway beyond, noting a few adjacent rooms parked on the side. "This passage splits off into multiple parts," he noted out loud. "We're going to have to check every single room just to be safe, Nela."

"Can I rest first?" Nela panted. "I've never done this sort of thing before, Admiral. I'm tired."

Shepard's face softened and he lifted his rifle to cover the hallway while he backed up towards the quarian. "Okay, but make it fast. We don't have a lot of time."

"Oh, I know," Nela sighed. "It will be quick. She _did_ tell me that you were more gullible than you let on."

Shepard was in the process of turning around to ask what the hell that meant and who the hell "she" was when electricity zapped through his body, making his skin burn and causing his breath to flow erratically. His hairs stood on end and his nerves twitched helplessly, finally ceasing when the lightning finished circulating throughout him. Exhausted and in pain, his knees buckled and he crashed to the ground, causing the vacuum seals of his helmet to become dislodged and it flew off his head. The bare skin of his face fell heavily onto the metal floor, resulting in his cheek becoming slashed on a hard edge.

A whoosh of air blew at him and a screeching sound assaulted his ears. It sounded like brakes being applied on a train, actually. He tried to focus his blurry eyes to find that the cargo track was no longer unoccupied in front of him. A container tube now sat positioned at the dock, a force field shimming around it.

And, behind the field, a panicked Liara stared helplessly and a horrified Tali screamed at him, begging for him to get up.

"_John!_ Nela, what are you _doing?!_"

Closing her omni-tool as Shepard lay on the ground, stunned, Nela simply backed away. "My job," she replied firmly. The timid edge that had been in the quarian's voice the whole time was now gone, replaced by a grim finality. "Surely all of you must have thought that this had been going a little too easily, didn't you?"

"Might've crossed my mind," Shepard grimaced as he gingerly dabbed at his cut cheek. His rifle had fallen a few feet away but Nela was standing between him and the weapon, preventing him from grabbing it. "Why do this, Nela? Who are you working for?"

"It's not my place to question orders, but I'll let them tell you in person," Nela said as she stepped aside, allowing a shadow from the hallway to make their presence known. Behind the shadow were the forms of several CAT6 troopers who milled about in a semi-circle formation, surrounding the small dock on all sides, their weapons trained right on Shepard.

But while the troopers remained stationed in place, the shadow continued to move forward. The figure was tall, taller than Shepard by a head. The angular armor that they wore reminded him of a futuristic insect but the coat that they chose to drape around it gave them a villainous quality. The most striking aspect about this person was the silver mask, one that Shepard had never seen before, but as he watched the bottom half split open to form a pair of mandibles and saw each of the four red optics glowing in his direction, there really was no more cause for Shepard to idly speculate. Its purpose was all too familiar.

"No…" Tali said weakly as she came to the same conclusion. She slowly slid to her knees, her hands scraping at the force field as the voice that had haunted her for years took on a tangible form again, constricting her. "No…"

"It's you," Shepard sighed, his armor still smoking from Nela's tech blast. "I thought you would have had the good sense to stay dead back on Anhur."

"And potentially miss out on all the fun?" Grevel laughed, the mask making her voice sound as deep and sinister as the last time they had met. "No, Shepard. I've had the cruel fortune to survive so much that your little stunt with the cable never had a chance at killing me. I suppose that I'm just too stubborn to die outright."

She looked up from the dazed human to glance at her captives encased in the container tube. "And here we have the newest incarnation of the Shadow Broker," she announced loudly as she walked up to Liara. "Quite more diminutive than I expected…and nowhere near as great as your predecessor, unfortunately."

Liara scowled but said nothing, causing Grevel to laugh. "Ah, Liara T'Soni, you're only mad because you never saw me coming. How ironic, to have all of the information in the galaxy at your fingertips yet you couldn't fathom or discover who was behind all this in the first place." She leaned forward, making the asari back away from the field. "Which happened to be a factor that the Broker took care of years ago. Thanks to him, I never existed seven years ago. He _deleted_ my files so that I was off the grid, invisible. I had finally lived up to my namesake, so it seemed."

Now the mandibles parted in a smile as Grevel walked over to Tali, who quickly backed away from the hideous mask. "Oh come now, Tali'Zorah," Grevel chuckled while Shepard continued to groan behind her. "There's no need for fear. What could you possibly reveal to me now that I have no knowledge of after our extended session all those years ago?" She leaned in closer so that she could fixate the quarian with her demonic gaze. "For some reason, I find myself feeling glad to see you again, Tali'Zorah. You might be the first to move on from our little one-on-one that I can recall. Usually the ones stuck in a room with me don't make it out all right. You're certainly doing better for yourself, now that you've finally gotten the human into bed with you, it seems."

Tali was too frightened to come up with a retort, which made Grevel snort in her little victory. Straightening back up, she adjusted her coat as her mandibles clicked in thought. "Now then, Shepard, we all know the reason for why I'm-"

Her sentence was rudely interrupted because Shepard had sprung off the ground and slugged Grevel hard in the face with a right hook. The CAT6 soldiers surrounding them jumped in shock and readied their weapons but Nela waved a hand, ordering to put the guns down. They hesitantly complied as the tiny quarian crossed her arms and smirked from the sidelines.

The punch, despite the power thrown from Shepard, did not seem to have an effect on Grevel because she simply turned her head in surprise, blinked once, and thrust her head forward in a savage headbutt. Cracking his skull against the maimed turian's helmet, Shepard flew back and hit the edge of a console, shattering the screen and causing a set of components to spill of the desk. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead and Shepard saw stars.

"Clever, you taking the initiative," Grevel growled as she grabbed Shepard's collar. With a roar, she effortlessly tossed Shepard to the ground, making him bounce in his heavy armor. "But it won't be enough to save you this time."

When Grevel stepped into Shepard's reach, he didn't move to hit her again. Rather, he slid his combat knife out of his sheath and swung it downward for it to impact directly on Grevel's thigh. But, to his surprise, the knife bounced right off with a scraping noise, not even penetrating the cloth covering that lay draped over the turian's bowed legs. No blood glistened off the legs, not even showing a hint that he had stabbed anything at all.

Shepard looked up at Grevel in shock and she shrugged at his confusion. She then quickly raised her foot and kicked Shepard hard in the chin, laying him flat on his back.

"Prosthetics, Shepard," Grevel grinned, not even worked up to a pant yet. "A direct result of you tying that tow cable about me. Although, if it weren't for your actions earlier, that would have been a wound that definitely would have killed me."

"My…what?" Shepard said around a mouthful of blood.

Grevel, with a slender finger, pointed at a spot on her covered neck. The way she indicated it and the motions she made quickly raised the memory back up for Shepard. "The thorn, remember?" Grevel said. "You stabbed me in the neck with a red nashi thorn just before you sent me over that cliff. The nashi toxin has properties of hallucinogens and paralysis, but it also has a quality that I doubt you were aware of."

She stood over the human, rigid, as she watched him look at her in interest. "The toxin contains a chemical called tranexamic acid. It is an antifibrinolytic that is used in several medicines today, mostly for the purposes of blood clotting." Shepard's eyes widened in horror as Grevel laughed. "Your actions, despite them trying to result in my death, slowed my heart rate and inadvertently prevented me from bleeding out, which gave me enough time to recover from my injuries. So, in a way, I feel indebted to you for not killing me when you had the chance."

The mandibles retreated back into the mask, making her gaze hard as diamond. "That _doesn't_ mean that I'm going to thank you," she said coldly.

Shepard saw Tali's panicked look through the force field and he felt his heart start to rise in fear. Clutching the knife tightly, he leaped to his feet once more and advanced on the turian, his arms out in front.

Grevel, in amusement, did not draw a weapon. Rather, she stood her ground, watching Shepard advance cautiously. "Come on, Shepard," she taunted. "Show me what the Savior of the Galaxy can do. Show me that you can give me the fight of your _fucking life!_"

Shepard stutter-stepped for a fleeting moment, time slowing down as he panted, before he lunged with the knife, scything it in an arc that meant to slash at Grevel's neck. He felt every bruise on his body, every strained muscle, but he made it his mission to fight through all that. As tall as she was, Grevel ducked the blow almost lazily and planted a fist hard on Shepard's side. The armor dented slightly and Shepard grunted but did not fall, instead choosing to rush the turian head-on in a brazen charge.

Positioning her body to the side, Grevel took all three hundred fifty pounds of the fully armored human in the charge, grasping her hands around the knife as he struggled to stick her with it. With a wrench, she twisted Shepard's wrist at a painful angle, causing him to drop it. Grevel kicked the knife away.

With a spark of light, Shepard broke free of Grevel's hold and engaged the electrodes on his gauntlets, watching them flare up with electricity. The bolts were reflected upon the diodes in Grevel's helmet, watching impassively as they danced before her eyes. Clenching his fists, Shepard yelled as he started swinging wildly, his form becoming sloppier and sloppier the more he continued. Grevel dodged each punch, staying well away from the electrified gauntlets. Shepard was slowly tiring as he proceeded to launch blow after blow and he was scared. He continued to fight with all of his strength, knowing that he had to end this battle before things got any worse. He couldn't let Grevel leave this room alive!

Grevel had no such worries. For her, all she had to do was wait until Shepard used up all his energy.

She stepped to the side after a wild swing from Shepard forced her to move to the left. Shepard had no control over the momentum in his blow and he couldn't stop his fist from plowing into a solid beam in the middle of the room. He roared from the pain on his knuckles and Grevel seized the moment that his lapse provided.

Grasping her powerful hands upon Shepard's wrists, she squeezed hard until she could feel the metal start to bend. The locks morphed out of place and she ripped the armor, gauntlets and gloves both, off of Shepard and threw them to the side in a crumpled heap. Frantically, Shepard started to pummel Grevel with his bare fists but her dulled nerve endings plus the lack of power that his unarmored blows provided were akin to shooting a rifle at a heavy cruiser in an attempt to slow it down. She just stood and took the punches, the hits only registering as dull vibrations.

Shepard winced as his knuckles were torn open from the sharp edges on Grevel's armor. His hands were slick with blood and every blow felt like he was punching fire. But he couldn't stop here, he had to kill this bastard right here! He had to kill Grevel now, before she could hurt more people. Before she could hurt Tali.

Calling on all of his strength, Shepard willed his fist to move as fast as it was physically possible. He envisioned a blur, streaking through the air to land upon Grevel's helmet and knock it off, along with that smug smile that she was no doubt exhibiting right now. All he needed to do was hold out. He had to!

But Grevel, operating on fresher reflexes, calmly raised her hand and caught the blow out of the air before it even had a chance to land. Her powerful muscles stopped the punch clean in its tracks, her strength still immense after all these years. With a dry snort, she squeezed Shepard's clenched fist hard. A popping noise sounded as Shepard's finger bones shattered and he fell to his knees in an effort to escape the blinding pain.

Liara and Tali beat on the field powerlessly, delegated to being simple bystanders. Tali felt like every blow on Shepard was being done unto her tenfold. Her chest heart, her breathing rasped, and she felt faint.

Grevel used her powerful leg to kick Shepard onto his back, knocking the wind out of him. He drew his maimed hand to his chest as he wheezed, his other gravitating to his stomach.

"Pathetic, Shepard," Grevel shook her head. "I had been expecting a decent effort from you, but after three years of a sedentary lifestyle, I guess I was overestimating your capabilities quite a bit. Still, it's a disappointment."

Quickly raising her foot back up, Grevel brutally slammed it down while Shepard rolled on the floor. The heel of her boot impacted precisely on Shepard's kneecap, and there was a horrific _SNAP!_ as Shepard's leg bent backwards, a spurt of blood bursting out as a shard of bone poked its way through his skin and bodysuit. Tali and Shepard screamed at the same time, him from the pain, and her from the shock.

"That doesn't nearly make us even," Grevel growled as Shepard became delirious from the agony, his head lolling from side to side as his broken leg felt like it had been doused in acid. She motioned to the soldiers and two of them came forward to take him away, letting his feet drag on the floor as they carried him out.

"JOHN!" Tali shrieked, shaking with a coursing fear. "_JOOOOHN!_"

Shepard raised his head weakly, sweat pouring down his face. "Ta…li…" he croaked out weakly before a door shut behind him, cutting him off for good.

"NO!" Tali yelled as she punched the force field. "_NO! NO! NO!_" She flung herself at the barrier, beating on it helplessly. "You bastard! You _bosh'tet! _ You hurt John, you piece of-"

"I _crippled_ him is what I did, Tali'Zorah," Grevel said lightly as she adjusted her coat, Nela shuffling forward after all the soldiers had left. "I haven't killed him outright. Not yet at least. Still, I'd imagine that this situation is somewhat familiar, you and Shepard being shuttled off after damage has been inflicted on the other. It gives off a strong sense of déjà vu. The only difference this time is that your involvement ends right here." She shunted a thumb behind her. "Your human is the one I want, not you."

"Why?" Tali moaned. "Why do this to us…to me?"

"Simply to tie up loose ends. I wasn't about to forgive and forget the man who so thoroughly humiliated me by leaving me for dead. Forgiveness, Tali'Zorah, is not one of my strong suits. However, I was convinced by my employer that you two had a bigger part to play in the grand scheme of things and summarily convinced me to hang back until the Reaper threat had vanished. Even so, it was challenging to coordinate this aspect of my plan with your separate schedules. It took years of waiting to ensure that you two would fatefully meet on this station again, and in doing so, I led you here, to this place."

"You mean use Nela?" Tali asked before she rounded on the other quarian, hoping that her eyes blazed a hole through the other woman's visor, causing her to succumb to an illness and die on the spot. "You…_traitor!_" she hissed. "You're a disgrace to your fleet, your family, your entire birth ship! You _bosh'tet!_"

"That may be true," Nela shrugged, "if I actually _had_ a fleet, a family, or a birth ship that even knew of my existence."

Nonplussed, Tali and Liara glanced at the other while Grevel laughed. "Nela…is different. She's the entire reason why we're here, Tali'Zorah. The Archives provided the perfect venue for our private meeting. Isolated camera systems, few guards, just a big empty void for us to reside in. And Nela's the one who got us access to the Archives in the first place."

"How?" Liara spoke for the first time. "The…the Archives can only be accessed by Council members and Spectres. There's simply no way that a quarian like Nela could possibly access the most secure location on the Citadel!"

"You have a good point. But are you familiar with Article 5, Section 8, Clause 2 of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Charter?" The asari was silent, so Grevel continued. "In that specified paragraph, it details that Spectres can designate one person to be their recipient of their belongings in case they die out in the field. This person can also be specified to have access to Spectre privileges even when the Spectre in question is still perfectly alive and well. Admiral Jonathan Shepard, as he signed it, selected this response some time ago and indicated his recipient clearly in the document that he presented to the Council. All on public record, of course."

Grevel now pointed at Tali, who unconsciously gestured to herself. "_You_ were the one he selected," Grevel said.

"M-Me?" Tali gasped in astonishment.

"Naturally, and this was quite a blessing for me given the circumstances. You see, to access the Archives, you need to provide a handprint. This is required of all species, with the exception of one: quarians. As they cannot remove a portion of their suit without risking themselves to deadly diseases, the security procedures were amended to only require blood samples from quarians instead of handprints. It was deemed that it would be less intrusive and risky that way." Grevel casually turned her head to and fro between the asari and quarian, noting each and every reaction they betrayed.

"But…" Liara mused. "That still doesn't make any sense. How would you be able to get a sample of Tali's blood in the first place?"

"That's right," Tali added, scouring her mind for any possibilities. "I'm…I'm not registered in any hospitals on the Citadel and you couldn't have stolen any samples from the Fleet…"

"But I did take a blood sample from you back on Anhur, remember?" Grevel smiled, her mandibles clacking in glee. "Of course, your mind was rambling at the moment so I can understand your temporary amnesia of the situation. But, you should note, that that blood sample was used for something else, something the Broker began without my knowledge after Anhur. In short, he presented me with Nela, and now we find ourselves here."

"What does Nela have to do with this anyway?" Tali inquired, watching the other quarian slowly step up to Grevel's side.

"You see, Nela isn't this quarian's real name," Grevel nodded in her direction. "It was an in-joke that I used, knowing that none of you would catch it. Nela'Tiloc is an anagram, a temporary name that I had her use to gain your trust. Apparently the ploy worked to perfection, judging by your presence before me."

"An anagram? An anagram of what?"

Grevel tipped her head up in mock thought. "Well, it comprises two words, actually. You have a T, an A, an L, and an I embedded in there. I'd wager that it would be a simple task to decipher what the other five could spell out."

That caused Liara's head to jolt upward as she realized, as did Tali, what those little letters meant to them. "Oh…goddess…" Liara gasped.

"K-Keelah…no…" Tali stammered as she glanced at Nela with horror.

The quarian not named Nela touched a control at the base of her helmet. The little light at her vocabulator flashed red for a split second before it cooled to the deep violet again.

"You really shouldn't be too trusting, Tali'Zorah," the quarian spoke, but her voice had changed dramatically. Instead of the higher pitch that had initially been associated with her, it had now dropped slightly, but enough to indicate that there was a change at all. The voice bounced off of Tali in shock as she heard her own voice utter those words, but it was not her mouth from which they came.

The grey draped clone of Tali laughed at their astonishment, her head tilting up while Grevel also chuckled. "Now you know why I no longer have any use for you, Tali'Zorah, when you've been in the palm of my hand for years!"

Tali's words came out in an unintelligible squeak, which provided a final source of amusement for Grevel as she moved to the controls for the container tube. "Unfortunately, since you were unable to be deprived of weapons before you were trapped inside the tube, I'm afraid that I'll be at a disadvantage if I lower the field to kill the both of you. However, these things are impenetrable to gunfire, biotics, and tech assaults so I'd think that you're going to have a tough time getting out. In any case, I have a schedule to adhere to and you'll only delay it. I'll be sure to give Shepard your final regards, Tali'Zorah. We'll be having a fun time without you."

"I'll be sure to make him more _comfortable_ in his final moments," the clone added nastily, Tali's voice sounding sultrier through the other's vocabulator.

"_No!_" Tali screamed, eyes frantically rushing from Grevel to her own clone. "_Don't-!_"

With a simple tap, the container tube slid shut and bolted down the rails to one of the stacks lining the walls. With a cranking of gears, the entire structure groaned as the tube slid in to be camouflaged amongst the rest of the containers. Eventually, the mechanisms quieted, and the Archives fell silent once more.

The tube muffled the screaming from the individuals trapped inside, ensuring that the surrounding area remained a perfectly noiseless void.

* * *

_**A/N: Nela'Tiloc (AKA: C-L-O-N-E T-A-L-I) was always intended to take the position of Brooks from the Citadel DLC, which was a giveaway that she was not going to be a good person from the start. It was the circumstances surrounding her that I wanted to be a surprise which was why I included her in there anyway.**_

_**This will be the last chapter that is loosely based on the Citadel DLC from here on out. All of the future conversations and battles will be purely original. The DLC was simply used to bring up the setting and what not, so don't expect predictability in the future.**_

_**As for what's in store, I'm sure you'll like what I have planned.**_


	6. Chapter 6: Intervention

The interior of the tube echoed with the scraping of boots on the metal surface, but none escaped to the expansive room beyond the threshold. The two individuals currently trapped inside paced all around, scouring the place for a slight tell on how to open the damned thing. After half an hour had passed, prognosis was looking bleak.

"_Damn it!_" Tali nearly shouted, close to tears. She frantically turned in all directions, desperate to escape her confinement. "I can't…I can't believe it!" she cried. "I need to get out of here…I need to get out of here…"

"Tali, relax," Liara sighed, her hands on her hips as she too showed her frustration. "We're not going to get anywhere by panicking."

"I'm _not_ panicking!" Tali shot back. "I can't stay here, Liara! I have to get out! I have to save John from that monster, Liara!"

The tube was not particularly cramped as it contained enough room for each person to have their own personal bubble of space, but it was the very notion that they had been sealed in a place where they had no escape from which was upsetting. If no one bothered to check up on them, they would suffocate to death before they could even hope of being rescued.

"Please calm down, Tali," Liara said quietly. "I'm in the same boat as you, remember? We can't just- what are you doing?"

Tali had drawn her shotgun from the holster on her back, her eyes wild behind her visor. She glanced at Liara for a second before she sidestepped to the middle of the tube. Seemingly finding a spot that looked good, she hefted her gun and aimed it at the top corner, where the surface had split apart previously.

"Tali, no!" Liara yelled, but it was too late. Tali squeezed the trigger and a hot burst of fire erupted out of the shotgun's barrel. Liara dove to the ground as the bullets ricocheted around her, harsh pings from the impacts on the metal. The noise itself was like thunder had clapped directly over her head, causing her ears to ring uncomfortably.

Tali was still standing in her spot, oblivious to the danger she had just put herself and Liara through. Before she could fire again, Liara rushed forward and grabbed the gun out of the quarian's hands, tossing it behind her so that she wouldn't be able to reach it.

The quarian whirled to face the asari as she found herself inexplicably disarmed. "What the hell was _that_ for, Liara?!"

"Me?" Liara blinked, astonished. "What is wrong with _you_, Tali?! Were you even thinking when you fired that gun in an enclosed space? You could have killed the both of us!"

"I had to try _something!_" Tali defended. "I haven't seen _you_ do anything to help us out here, Liara!"

Liara blanched at the quarian's nerve. To even insinuate that she was not at all concerned with where they were at the moment… "And what exactly would you propose that I do? Use biotics to blast our way out of here, through an enclosed tube made of steel a couple feet thick?"

"Why don't you just get out your information drone and have it hack us out?"

"You need a clear line of sight to activate the drone which means I wouldn't be able to get it outside for it to do some good. You know this, Tali! That's why I need you to calm down so that we can think about this intelligently!"

"Well, what can I do that I haven't already tried?" Tali said mournfully. She leaned her back against the wall and slowly slid down, her legs splaying straight out in front of her. "I just can't think of anything else to _do_, Liara! We can't shoot our way out or even think our way out. I…want to get out of here…but I _can't_, Liara! All I have left is the notion that John is hurting out there and I can't even get to him!"

Liara's face was a mask of amazement and disbelief. She snorted a laugh, hoping that what she had just heard was not true. "This is unbelievable," she muttered as she ran a hand along her scalp. "You're giving up _already_, Tali? You're just going to lie down and accept everything?"

"Of course not, but considering the circumstances, what choice do I have?!" Tali yelled. "I want to get out of here and kill that bitch Grevel with my own hands, but what can either of us do in our current position that we haven't already tried before?"

"That sounds a lot like giving up, actually."

"Whatever! I can't do _anything!_ What do you want from me, Liara?! An unlimited display of new ideas? I'm sorry, but I happen to be fresh out of those at the moment!"

The asari slowly shook her head, completely incredulous to the quarian's sarcastic and desperate comments. "And to think that _you're_ who Shepard ultimately fell for…"

Tali's head snapped up to face Liara so quickly that the movement should have strained her neck. "What did you just say?" Tali asked, her voice a deadly whisper.

"You _know_ what I'm talking about," Liara snapped. "There was a reason why things worked out like this, why you still feel something for the man. After all this time apart, he still chose you. The man named _you_ his sole recipient for everything he owned which showed that he had been waiting for you! Shepard still _loves_ you, Tali! Are you going to repay him by sitting down and moping helplessly in your position?"

Tali jumped to her feet, causing Liara to retreat a few steps. "Do…not…_talk_ about John like that to me!" Tali hissed. "You don't know what he wants, Liara. You haven't for years! Why do you think that you can tell me what is right and wrong between us? What, do you think that you'd rather cozy up to him again and try to win him back? Is _that_ what's going on?"

Liara frowned, her expression ice cold. "You woefully silly girl," she sighed.

"_Do not call me a girl!"_

"You're acting a lot _like_ one, from what I'm seeing," Liara snarled. "Why the petty attitude, Tali? Is this…is this about the fact that he got with me first? Is _that_ why you hate me so much?"

"This isn't about you at all! This is about saving John, but you just _had_ to bring this conversation into the mix so I guess we can't avoid this topic _now_, can we?"

"No," Liara sighed. "You're right, Tali. But it needed to be brought up because I'm involved now, same as you. And you can't rid your prejudices against me like I had managed to do for you, so I agree that a discussion between us is warranted."

Tali laughed bitterly, throwing her arms up in the air. "Oh, so noble of you, Liara! You think that you are so much better than me, able to casually disregard your attraction for John just as easily as it probably came to you. You asari probably think of flings like those as seconds ticking off a chronometer! Did you really think that I could forget as well? That I would be as forgiving?"

Liara resisted the temptation to give the quarian a harsh lashing with her tongue, but flared her nostrils instead. "Tali, whatever Shepard and I had ended when Cerberus brought him back. Something was different afterward and, although there was some friction, we severed our ties to the other. Already, he was falling for you, Tali, and I agreed to step aside. I still love Shepard very much, but I knew that he would be better off with you because he loved you more."

"And that's the problem right there!" Tali indicated. "What assurances did I have that John could turn casually from me back to you or even someone else? Whenever you were in the same room with him, even after he said he wanted me, I always felt sick to my stomach because I had no indication that you weren't going to continue to pursue him regardless!"

"But I gave no indication that I was going to do such a thing! Tali, why would you think of something like that?"

"_I don't know!_" Tali shrieked, her voice reaching almost the same volume as the gun blast. "Three years of not being able to see him gave me the idea that someone would try to take John away from me in my absence. All I could do was think helplessly in my position, waiting for a chance to look him in the eye and to tell him that I wanted everything to be normal again-"

"Which was all _your_ fault when you left him in the first place!" Liara blurted before she could stop herself.

Tali's jaw dropped behind her visor, though Liara was unable to see it. With a shaking finger, she pointed at the asari, her bottom lip trembling. "That's…t-that's not true. I didn't leave John, Liara."

Liara blew air through her teeth in frustration. "Don't lie to me, Tali. You expect me to believe that you let three years go by and all you could do was wish that you were with Shepard again? You were just moping around in your bunk and feeling sorry for yourself? If you were so conflicted, then why _didn't_ you go to him?"

"I…I had my duties…"

"That is another lie and you know it!" Liara outright yelled, scaring the quarian. "Now you're just shifting the blame so that everything is more convenient for you. Your people never asked for _your_ duties just as Shepard's never asked any more from him. He only stayed in the military _after_ it was apparent that you would be joining back up again. Not before, _after!_ If you really loved him, then why did you do that?!"

Tali glared at her blankly, her expression one of confusion. Slowly she crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said flatly.

"Don't give me that!" Liara exclaimed. "Whatever you did, you did it for your own reasons, Tali. There had to be a logical explanation behind your actions because I know you to not be an impulsive person. You know that I would never have gone back to Shepard, not after seeing him fall hopelessly in love with you. I know that you love him so much as well, so what was it that made you leave? Did you two have a fight about something?"

"No," Tali said in exasperation.

"Did you honestly think that I would try to steal him away from you?"

Tali rolled her eyes and explosively sighed. "No," she answered anyway.

"Did you think that he wouldn't have had time to spend with you after the war was over?"

"No," Tali glared, but there was a slight hesitation in her answer.

"Well, what was holding you back? Did you fall in love with someone else?"

"Of course not!"

"Do you think that Shepard is in love with anyone else?"

"No, he told me so!"

Liara arched an eyebrow. "And…you believe him?"

Tali fumed, her cheeks burning. "He has never lied to me before. I have no reason to think that he would ever start."

"So if you know that he still loves you and that there's nothing else jeopardizing that for the both of you, why are you unable to move forward?"

"I…" Tali faltered as she altered her gaze. "I'm…not sure."

"No," Liara said firmly as she turned Tali back around. "You're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything from _you_," Tali spat furiously.

"I think that you're hiding something from yourself, Tali. Do you just not want to spend your life with Shepard?"

"I do!" Tali raged. "I would give everything for him, but I just can't!"

"And why not?" Liara persisted. "Is it because you think that you messed things up by leaving?"

"Well…m-maybe…"

"Is it because you need more time to organize your thoughts on what you think is best for you?"

"Stop talking…_please_, Liara…"

"Or is it because you can't help but imagine someone less messed up as his _mate_, Tali? Is it because you legitimately think that _I'll_ be a better fit for him for the rest of his life? _Tell me what it is, Tali! What is bothering you?!_"

Something inside Tali finally snapped and she uttered a guttural scream as she dived across the tube to tackle Liara. The asari was caught off guard as the quarian's brazen move sent them both crashing to the ground. Liara grunted as her shoulder hit the metal floor painfully and coughed as Tali's elbow drove into her gut.

Tali was growling behind her visor and she raised one of her fists high as she remained atop the stunned Liara. The asari barely had time to blink before the quarian's fist smashed just over her eye, impacting hard and bruising the skin. She cried out in pain as Tali prepared another punch, her fists grasping at the asari's coat.

It was perhaps the painful reaction that the punch provided that now awakened something in Liara too. Realizing that this was slowly devolving into something serious, she snarled and kicked the quarian off of her. Tali, even with her enviro-suit, was seven kilograms lighter than Liara and the force of the asari's push, augmented by an instinctive biotic shove, sent her flying into the wall. Tali's back hit the metal and she dropped down, out of breath. Clutching her lower ribs, Tali found a quick reserve of energy, fueled by adrenaline, and raced across the ground to where Liara was still lying.

Liara, however, used the momentum of Tali's charge to catch her as she dived down once again. The force propelled the two of them in a roll and they started to bang painfully around the tube, neither one of them obtaining the upper hand at the moment. Liara was about to punch Tali in the chest when the quarian suddenly shot her arms out and clenched them tightly around Liara's neck.

There was no hesitation in Tali's actions. Her eyes brimmed with flame and her muscles were rigid. She hissed through the mask, watching the asari begin to choke before her eyes. But the advantage only lasted for a fleeting moment, as Liara bucked her hips which sent Tali crashing down to the ground, but her hands were still choking her. But, the quarian was no longer holding Liara down which made her able to snake her own arms forward and now wrapped her fingers around Tali's neck in kind.

Panicked, Tali squeezed Liara's neck tighter, but that only produced the same response from the asari. She could feel each cord in the quarian's neck vibrate as she tensed her muscles, but she sensed a rising sense of fear from the tremble that lay buried deep within her. Liara had no doubts about her own reactions for she knew that Tali could tell that she was just as scared as her.

Squeezing, both of their visions were beginning to darken as inky black tendrils began to wrap themselves forward. Slight splutters were the only things echoing in the area now, coupled with sour faces of hate.

But, just as Liara was about to black out, Tali's fingers twinged around her neck slightly. Very quickly after that, they loosened their grip at the critical moment, causing Liara to pry her own fingers from Tali and gulp in their precious supply of air while being interrupted from a few hacking coughs. Also convulsing with her own chokes, Tali sat up first and saw Liara next to her, gingerly rubbing her neck.

As if she was seeing the scene for the first time, Tali looked down at her hands then back to Liara. Staring at them numbly, she began to shake her head in disbelief.

"I…I…" she whimpered, on the verge of losing it. "I…didn't mean to…this wasn't…supposed to happen…"

Slowly scooting herself away, Tali pressed her back against the wall in a daze. Her motions were slow like she was underwater. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she saw the bruises begin to form on Liara's neck and she slowly drew her knees to her chest, set her head between them, and began to bawl uncontrollably.

Her eyesight all clear now, Liara still held a hand to her neck when she heard the sound of Tali's loud crying. She looked over to see that the quarian had tried to make herself into a ball, an invisible rock that no one would go out of their way to notice. Surprised at the sobbing woman, Liara, still rubbing her neck, stood up and considered Tali for a moment. Tali was shaking horribly with every labored breath, each one torturous on her. The quarian was only invested in her own sorrow so she didn't notice when Liara walked over and quietly sat beside her, a forlorn look on her face as she watched Tali cry.

With a trembling hand, Liara gently placed it on Tali's shoulder, who jumped at the contact. Pained by the amount of remorse coming from Tali, Liara shuddered in regret. "I'm…I'm sorry, Tali," she whispered. "I shouldn't have said that last part. Goddess, I…that wasn't true and I pushed you too hard."

"No…" Tali mumbled through her tears. "Y-You got one t-thing right, Liara…" She slowly raised her head and looked over at the asari, allowing her to see her watering eyes through her visor. "I _am_ messed up," she said. "You _w-were_ right…and I had n-no reason t-to attack you. P-Please forgive m-m-me…"

Liara grasped Tali's nearest hand, holding it gently so that the both of them could relax. "I'd understand if you didn't want to tell me, Tali. I was just so mad at you that I thought-"

"That doesn't excuse my behavior in the slightest," Tali said a little more clearly, letting her legs slide out a bit further. "I have no reason to think that you would ever try to take John away from me, Liara. I…I love him so much and I know he does too. And you, you've never done anything that would warrant behavior like this from me. But that doesn't mean that my conscience is completely clear." She sighed, about to burst into tears again. "It's…it's never been the same for me…for about seven years now."

"Seven years?" Liara's hand came to her mouth. "What do you mean seven years?"

"I mean," she gave a bitter laugh, "that I haven't been well for a…for a long time. I…I'm a mental _wreck_, Liara. I've never told anyone about it, not even John…except you just now."

"Oh, Tali!" Liara exclaimed in shock. She leaned over to embrace the woman in a hug and held her tight. Tali stiffened for a second before she accepted the gesture, sighing as the comforting feelings radiated through her body. "Seven years. Was it the time that Shepard got spaced that's been bothering you?"

"No," Tali mumbled. "Just before it. After the mission we had together."

"And you've never spoken to anyone about it?"

"I talked to a medic on the flotilla a few years back," Tali admitted. "I…I didn't give her all the details, but she told me that…" She took a breath. "…that I might be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder."

"PTSD," Liara murmured, well aware of its significance. "But…but why? Why would you be stricken by that when I've known you to be one of the bravest persons I've ever met?"

Tali just shook her head. "Being brave doesn't mean that I'm perfect, Liara. I thought that…I could hide my fears after so long but…but maybe they were just…"

She broke down in another burst of sobbing and Liara held Tali closer. "Shh…" she whispered to the frightened quarian. "It's okay, Tali. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"But…if I don't…" Tali mumbled in between horrid sniffs, "…who _will_ I be able to tell?"

And so Tali laid it out to Liara the entirety of the events that occurred on Anhur after she took a few deep breaths. She described in unflinching detail the mission, her capture, her mental torture from Grevel, all of it. Meanwhile, Liara sat next to her, rapt with attention, never interrupting her for more information and never becoming impatient when Tali faltered at times when she got emotional.

Liara never changed her expression but her thoughts were becoming more and more wild as Tali continued. The notion that Tali had gone through so much in that time frame was devastating to her. She could not imagine someone having the gall to poison and torment the quarian that she had known for years. And to think, she had been keeping this bottled up the entire time.

At the end, Tali had slid down even further than she had before, her posture indicating the relief that had pushed her anxiety out like a balloon being deflated. Liara, on the other hand, felt like she had aged a few years after listening to Tali's harrowing tale. She stared into space, pondering what she had just heard.

"All this time…and I never knew," Liara breathed. "I didn't even suspect anything when you had arrived back from your mission. Nothing like that, at least."

Tali sighed as she closed her eyes for a long blink. "Now you understand why I've never been well, Liara. Even after the war ended, I…I didn't go back to John immediately because I was still haunted by Grevel in my head. I am was – still am – so broken inside that I didn't want to be a burden to John. He…he already has a lot on his mind."

"He would have understood," Liara assured her. "I bet that if you had told Shepard exactly what Grevel had done to you, he would have made sure that you were as comfortable as possible."

"And have him see me as powerless? As weak? If going through an entire war didn't clear my thoughts, then I was only going to be a liability for John. I don't want him to be constantly caring for me all the time. That's not what I want him to be doing…or feeling. I just…" she looked over at Liara helplessly, "…just want him to be happy…and not worried."

Liara squeezed Tali's hand firmly, but gently. "You and I know that he would do whatever you ask, Tali. If you made your thoughts clear to him, he would move mountains to make you feel perfect."

"But is that truly fair? If he does that, what could I possibly give to him?"

"Yourself," Liara beamed. "Just you being there with him would make it worth everything for Shepard. I guarantee that."

Tali nodded thoughtfully and Liara swore that she could almost see a hint of a smile from behind the smoky visor. The moment was not to last, as Tali shrugged and breathed out heavily. "Thank you, Liara, but it doesn't change the fact that we're still stuck here and that Grevel has John. I know that we aren't able to do much, but I now know what I have to do in order to get better."

"What's that, Tali?"

"I have to kill Grevel myself."

Liara gave Tali a sad smile as she patted Tali's shoulder. "One step at a time, Tali," she said, not wanting to already argue against such a foolish course of action brought on by grief. "We have to get out of here first before we can do anything."

"She won't kill John," Tali said, not listening. "That bitch likes to see others suffer in front of an audience. She's not going to kill him unless someone's…watching." Tali slowly stood up and winced as her strained joints ached. Liara stared at her and did the same, both stretching in the enclosed tube.

Tali steeled herself as she felt a glimmer inside her chest. "We're going to get out of here, Liara," she said fiercely.

Liara shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "And how exactly have you determined that?"

"Because she _wants_ us to find her and meet on her own terms. She _wants_ us to see what she is capable of doing. Because of that, I think she wants us to escape."

As soon as Tali finished her sentence, there was a faint squealing of gears and the container suddenly lurched, threatening to throw down the standing occupants to the ground. They barely had time to catch themselves and bend their knees so that they could anticipate and change in acceleration.

"Somehow, I have a feeling that you may be right," Liara conceded.

"Don't agree with me just yet," Tali growled, her sorrow now fully replaced by anger. "There's still more to come." Softening a bit, she hesitated a bit before she put her hands on her knee as she bent forward humbly. "I'm sorry that I hurt you back there, Liara," she said, "and I hope that you will be able to forgive me…as I have forgiven you."

Liara smiled right before she hugged Tali in the middle of the moving car. This time, Tali returned the hug, grateful to have found a friend in this dark place. "All is forgiven, Tali," Liara whispered. "Whatever is waiting for us at the end of this trip, I can promise you that we are going to get Shepard back."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Tali said just as the traveling container began to slow. Tali's shotgun, still lying on the ground after Liara had kicked it away before, started sliding towards the two from the deceleration but Tali shot out a boot and halted its trajectory where she stood. She bent and picked it up, checking to see that there were a good amount of shots left in the clip as the sliding of locks produced a squealing sound of metal on metal and a faint sliver of light as the tube began to open.

Tali gingerly aimed her gun in the direction of the opening and Liara's fist pulsed with biotic energy in preparation. However, the force field surrounding the tube quickly snapped off as the container fully opened at the dock, revealing a very bemused turian glancing at them while he carried a long sniper rifle with his long fingers.

"Garrus!" Liara exclaimed as her and Tali gingerly stepped out of the tube to freedom. The turian shrugged at his faint moment in the spotlight but quickly made a squawk when both women threw themselves upon him in two enormous hugs.

"All right, all right!" Garrus said in a muffled tone, partly because Liara was squeezing his ribs pretty tightly. "Gerrofme! Can't…breathe!"

"I'm sorry, Garrus," Tali said as she stepped back, breathing hard. She gesticulated wildly, obviously caught up in the moment. "You just have no idea how good it is to see you at the moment."

Garrus blinked, somewhat amused. "You two were only missing for about an _hour_. Spirits, none of you could survive a night in jail without getting stir-crazy, it seems." He also took note of the brilliant shiner Liara sported over her eye and Tali's rumpled suit. "What the hell happened to you guys?"

There was a very pregnant pause between the two, which vanished after both scratched their heads at the same time and mumbled, "Nothing…"

"Well, never mind that," Garrus waved off, moving onto the next topic. "Shepard's been captured, you guys. I saw him being carted off by the mercenaries, along with a tall armored guy and Nela, from the looks of it."

"We know," Tali nodded. "We can explain everything on the way. But how did you not get captured like we did?"

"Hell if I know," Garrus shrugged. "I held back in my nest just like Shepard ordered me to. I guess they forgot to take care of me and bolted when they got their hands on him."

"How did you know where to find us?"

"Retraced your movements and found this console here," he gestured to the control panel, "still online and active, so I decided to check it out. When I booted it up, it was still on a cargo access diagnostic and your container was listed as the last recent movement. I guess I had a hunch that the bad guys either took something from that container, or put something into it. Either way, I called it back here and wound up finding you two."

"And we thank you all the same," Liara grinned. "Just so that we don't sound particularly ungrateful."

"I forgot to mention," Garrus added as he turned to Tali, "I found this next to the console when I arrived." In his hand, he held out pieces of what appeared to be a shining grey surface. Tali held out her hands and Garrus gently placed the grey gauntlet and glove from Shepard's armor into them, the deactivated diodes glinting from whatever light could be scrounged around in the area.

"Thanks, Garrus," she mumbled as she carefully slid the armor piece into a side pocket. Before she could get all misty-eyed again, she lifted her head back up hopefully. "Did…did you happen to take note of where they were taking Shepard? Did they say anything at all when they left?"

"I don't have a clue," Garrus sadly admitted, which caused Tali's heart to sink horribly. "But I might know someone who does," he added, which torturously caused her hopes to rise back up, only with the added urge to now punch Garrus in this very room.

Oblivious to the anguish he had inadvertently caused, Garrus gestured for Tali and Liara to follow him out of the room and back into the huge warehouse. "So who exactly do you know that might have an idea where Shepard was taken?" Liara asked, very speculative at the moment.

"Not too sure if he even knows," Garrus said in a breezy manner. "Trussed a CAT6 trooper up good after he got separated from his buddies about an hour and a half ago. With a little…persuasion, I might get him to spill his guts on everything. No promises, though."

"Interrogation," Tali commented, her determined mask now applied. "When do we start?"

* * *

There was a faint hum in the air, caused by the stress of FTL travel on the sides of the private vessel. It was a simple design, a cargo ship of the same make that Shepard had boarded in the past when he had first been assigned as a Spectre. He lay strapped on a chair, omni-bindings cuffing him down to make sure he didn't go anywhere.

His armor had been stripped off, carelessly discarded in pieces and left behind on the Citadel. Shepard now only wore his bodysuit, the black skintight surface clinging to his sweat-soaked body. The back portion of his right leg on the suit was torn and splattered with blood. A makeshift splint had been tied about the leg but the sliver of bone that had been pushed out was not back in his skin. It continued to jut out, gleaming white amidst the blood.

The pain from Shepard's destroyed knee was unbearable. He had been injected with some painkillers and an anti-shock cocktail, but his leg still throbbed. It felt worse than getting shot, worse than getting roasted alive by the beam of a Reaper. The only thing comparable at the moment was when he had gotten spaced by the Collectors, and even then he was having doubts over which was more painful at the moment.

He fought not to look at his destroyed knee, but the alternatives surrounding him at the moment were not pleasant either. More specifically, the two masked faces staring blankly at him right now were not exactly the kind of company he wished to keep. Not in a state like this.

Shepard turned from one faceless person to the next in shock, the final words barely imprinting themselves upon him. "A…a clone?" he asked to no one in particular.

"What, Shepard?" the quarian with Tali's voice snorted. "Is it really so hard for you to comprehend that I could possibly exist?"

Shepard clenched his teeth, refusing to give the clone any satisfaction. Grevel, meanwhile, just chuckled and stepped forward, her eyes shimmering wickedly from her mask. "I'm afraid it's true, Shepard. This quarian happens to be a perfect genetic copy of Tali'Zorah vas whatever-she-is-now. You can do so much with blood samples these days, but maybe it's the point that full-body cloning is technically illegal that is the astounding part. I'd probably have the same reaction too, if I found out that I had my own clone."

Shepard's leg twitched and he groaned as a spike of pain rammed itself deep. He somehow found the strength to laugh. "She's not even _half_ the person that Tali is, you pathetic bastard. You're misguided if you think you can intimidate me with this."

"Wrong," the clone seethed. "I'm everything and _more_, Shepard. _Tali'Zorah_ is weak and I am the stronger-"

"Shut up," Grevel silenced the clone before she slowly turned to face her, her deeply altered voice ringing dangerously. "Get out. Now."

"I'm not going to be cowed by him-"

"Leave the _fucking_ room," Grevel hissed. "I need to talk to Shepard alone."

The clone huffed but complied, silently walking away with her gaze never leaving Shepard. He glared darkly at the quarian as she left before turning his attention to the huge turian that seemed to inhabit the entire room with her intimidating presence.

"That clone is nothing like Tali, Grevel," he taunted. "She doesn't even seem to be controllable."

"No, she is," Grevel assured as she grabbed a chair and sat down next to Shepard. If he hadn't been restrained he would have flinched away but in his current position he could do nothing but watch as Grevel patiently regarded him. "Although admittedly, despite her being a perfect genetic copy, the nature of her creation has resulted in a very different personality to be inscribed in her cortex." Grevel shrugged. "There was little I could do with that, seeing that I had to heavily implant her so that she could be a fully functioning organism when it was time for her to awaken. Biology is a fickle thing, it seems."

Shepard struggled against his bonds but they held fast. "And her purpose was simply to be used as a deception for me?"

"It worked, didn't it? There are actually a few more operations that I have planned for the clone before she outstays her usefulness. She is actually more naturally limited by time than you or I, seeing that she was flash cloned from the outset. In less than twenty years, you see, her organs will fail on her and she will expire, that being the nature of cloning organisms to reach a certain age very quickly. High organ deterioration is certain regarding her fate, one that is not reserved for the likes of us."

"You're not here to talk about the properties of cloning to me, Grevel." It was not provided as a question.

"Quite right," Grevel said, a little miffed by the interruption. With a bulky finger, she reached over and prodded Shepard's leg, making him yell as it felt like a million fire ants began to crawl underneath his skin. Grevel watched the human thrash in his chair for a bit before she continued. "I'm here to make sure that you properly realize the consequences of what you have sown in the past. I'm only here for the reckoning, Shepard."

Gritting his teeth in pain, Shepard considered whether he wanted to spit onto Grevel's helmet or not. "If I had made sure you were dead, there wouldn't _be_ a need for a reckoning."

"True, which is why it has all boiled down to this, Shepard. Surely you must realize by now what awaits you."

"I'm just wondering why you haven't gotten on with it yet," Shepard growled.

"Revenge must be savored, not scarfed," Grevel said. "I have no need of going through the same song and dance back on Anhur as it will give me nothing. No questioning, no interrogation techniques, nothing of the sort. Rather, I plan on letting you fester for a bit before the time comes to be rid of you in a reasonably symbolic matter."

"And do I _want_ to know the details of my undoubtedly elaborate demise?"

Grevel laughed raucously. "Shepard, I will assure you that when the time comes, it will be quicker than you could believe. I only intend to drag this on until the right opportunity presents itself. After that, the theatrics will be wholly unnecessary. Take for example, the vorcha I mentioned fleetingly to you before. When I found them years after my torture, I subjected them to the worst sort of pain imaginable. I chained them up in a dungeon for weeks, cut parts of their flesh off and fed them to varren. When I had tired of their pleas for mercy, I disemboweled them but let their entrails hang out so that they suffered for three more days. When the stink of blood and bile became unbearable, I loosed the varren upon them so that their intestines were slowly eaten, that their deaths took as long and painfully as possible."

Grevel smiled underneath her mask at Shepard's pale face and stood up, kicking aside her chair. "I don't intend to let you suffer through that, Shepard. What I can promise you is that the amount of pain will be negligible to the kind you're going through now."

"Your promises mean nothing to me," Shepard said as his clammy forehead suddenly felt cold, his sweat chilled. "I have no reason to believe that you'll do anything that you say to me."

"And you won't have to. But you'll cling to that hope regardless. In the end, that will destroy you more than I ever could."

She turned to leave until Shepard said something to her back. "I have something _else_ that I hold hope for." Grevel turned around, gazing at a grimly smiling Shepard in amusement. "Tali," he said. "You didn't kill her and she will fight like hell to get to me just like I did for her. You made a mistake, Grevel, in letting her live for she _will_ find me and she _will_ put you down like you've always deserved."

Grevel looked at Shepard in curiosity for a moment before she gave a brief shrug. "It was no mistake," she simply said before she swiftly left the room, the door closing behind her so that Shepard could say no more in her presence.

The clone was leaning against the wall opposite the door and walked forward as soon as she saw Grevel approach. "You made me appear weak in front of Shepard," she accused. "That was not a good idea and I want to know-"

Grevel lunged forward and slammed the clone back against the wall in a savage push. Grevel then shoved the clone's shoulders so that she was forcibly pressed against the hard surface while the huge turian towered over her. "I don't need to explain myself to you," Grevel growled, knowing that she could snap the quarian in half if she so much as thought about the action. "You _are_ weak, just like your progenitor. You were not created to question, you were created to _obey_, and the next time I give you an order, you will obey me completely!"

"I have every right to question you!" the clone hissed. "You would never have gotten this far if it weren't for me and you need to realize-"

The clone cried out in pain as Grevel yanked at the tubes that connected to the back of the quarian's helmet and pulled down. Enraged, Grevel knelt down to look the cowed clone in the eye. "What _you_ need to realize is that you would not exist if it weren't for me! The _Broker_ engineered you,_ I _freed you! You would not be among the living if it weren't for my actions!" She leaned in closer to the shining mask. "And if you think that you will be better off without me, then I _will_ kill you the second that thought pops into your worthless head. Am I understood?"

She gave another tug on the hoses to emphasize her point before she released the clone. The quarian stood, trying to control her shaking so that she could appear stoic in Grevel's eyes. "You are perfectly understood," she said clearly, with only the tiniest amount of rage embedded in her voice.

"Good," Grevel nodded with finality, her voice brimming with satisfaction as she helped the clone straighten herself. "I am glad to hear it."

At that very moment, the ship chose that exact moment to jump out of FTL. The automated cockpit began its docking sequence as the light glow from the icy blue planet filled the ship through the windows. With its thrusters engaged, the craft dove through the clouds to skim the subzero surface below, headed straight towards its destination.

The snow and the mountains hid the final objective, nestled in this wasteland. All that needed to be done had been completed. Now the waiting would begin anew.

* * *

_**A/N: The beginning of this chapter was one of the hardest passages that I've written thus far - not from an emotional standpoint, but from a decisive one on how I could approach such a dramatic scene like that. Hopefully I didn't screw it up too badly, even though I had to divert heavily from my outline to make it fit with the tone.**_

_**The next few chapters should be a little easier. Personally, I'm excited for what in store in the near future. Hopefully you'll enjoy the payoff!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Fateful Genes

The skycar steadily slowed to a halt at the Alliance port after parting from the line of traffic that ran parallel to the docks. A compliment of soldiers was there to greet the tiny craft and all immediately saluted when the thin man hobbled out of the passenger seat and adjusted the cap on his head.

"Wing Commander Moreau, sir!" the nearest guard greeted, his face firm and chiseled.

"Don't, for god's sake," Joker waved off, causing all three men to lower their arms in surprise. "I've never enjoyed being saluted much, I hope you can understand. Never gotten used to it."

"Regulations, sir," one of the guards tried to explain. "Anyone of a higher rank should be treated as-"

"Yeah, well, you won't have to worry about me snitching on you if any of you have a momentary lapse of protocol." Joker tried to straighten up as best he could as he started to slowly walk along the gantry towards the parked Normandy. It was the only ship in the port at the moment, a sleek white vessel attended to with the utmost care by the best technicians stationed on the Citadel. For being almost six years old, it still looked like it came out of the showroom. At this rate, it could be put in a museum and still would look at home with the other relics. Not that the Normandy deserved that fate just yet for it still had a part to play.

Joker gave the ship a smile of pride before he looked at the guard flanking him. "So, do you want to tell me exactly why my shore leave was cut short? All I got was an urgent message to come to the dock but I haven't heard jack shit from you guys yet."

"Apologies, sir," the guard said as he took no notice of Joker's profanity. "The soldiers stationed at the Normandy alerted us to a potential breach of security. Apparently, three people of varying species were trying to force their way onto the ship. They never got inside but were loitering around as if they were expecting someone to admit them. When questioned, they asked for you specifically."

Joker frowned in concern. "Did you happen to get their names?"

"No, sir," the guard blanched.

"Is there anything else besides their request to see me that you have to tell?" Joker pressed. "That's all there is?"

"Not that I'm aware of. That's certainly all they're telling me at the moment."

"Jesus," Joker sighed. "So much for military intelligence. Where are the three now?"

"They're still waiting at the ship entrance. Did you want me to relocate them to a cell or possibly-?"

"No," Joker said brusquely. "Just take me to them now."

As ordered, the guard led Joker up a tiny lift that led to an access way that smelled like an antique rug store. The thin floor creaked from the weight being pressed on it and it almost seemed to Joker like the frail surface would snap from the weight of five pressing onto it, the thought not giving him much comfort. The footsteps rang hollowly along the narrow passageway up to a corner that led directly to the ship. As soon as Joker turned that corner, his jaw dropped in complete surprise.

"What the fu-"

"Hey, Joker!" Garrus waved, as did Liara and Tali. The three were leaning against the wall while a squad of five guards was keeping an eye on them. Joker was shocked at seeing three people that he could regard as friends so abruptly but more shocking was the fact that they appeared to be restrained at the moment, albeit passively.

"Go on, all of you," Joker waved at the guards. A few of them immediately complied while three of them lingered as their faces betrayed their confusion. "There's no threat," Joker persisted. "Just leave!"

They all took the hint after that.

Tali, Liara, and Garrus stood up from the wall and shuffled their feet sheepishly on the floor. Joker continued to watch the departing guards until they were no longer in his sight before he looked at his friends. "I really hope that you weren't planning on stealing the ship while I was away," Joker sighed lightly as he put his hands on his hips. "You do realize that they'll take out a policy if I report it missing, right?"

The three didn't know what to say until Joker cracked one of his signature smiles and simply waved them off. "Ah, what the hell. It's good to see you guys again."

"It's good to see you too," Tali said as she stepped forward to present her case. "Joker, we only came here because this was the first place we thought to find you."

"I'm on shore leave, why would I stay on the ship? I'm not _that_ attached to my job, Tali."

"I know," Tali dipped her head. "But we figured that there would have been someone around that could put us in contact with you. You see, we need a ship and we figured that the Normandy would be the best option for all of us."

Joker snorted air from his nostrils. "Hell, Tali,_ I_ don't command the damn ship. I just pilot it." He blinked in curiosity. "Have any of you talked to Shepard at all? I thought that you would know where he is, Tali, considering that he only just saw you…or at least I think he did. Don't leave me hanging, he _did_, did he?"

"Yes, Joker, we both met and had a wonderful time but something terrible just came up. You see, John has been captured."

A long silence passed between them, with Joker biting his lip and Tali wringing her hands expectedly. The bearded man passed his gaze over Garrus' anxious look and Liara's worry-filled eyes. Without another word, Joker turned to the door of the Normandy, which instantly registered his pilot status and opened, paving the way to the airlock access. Everyone followed him inside and squeezed into the tiny room while they waited for the airlock procedures to finish.

"_Stand by, shore party_," the usual synthesized voice said. "_Decontamination in prog-_"

"Personal override code '_You're wasting my time,_' activate." Joker blurted with little patience in his tone.

"_Override accepted_," the VI said smoothly, not caring that it had been so rudely interrupted. "_Welcome aboard, Wing Commander Moreau._"

"Personal override code?" Garrus murmured in admiration. "Nice. Why doesn't Shepard have one of those? It could have saved us so much stress and time from having to languish in that damned room."

Joker smirked. "Shepard _always_ had an access code, Garrus. He was very adamant at following protocol that he never felt that he needed to use it."

"_Now_ you tell me," Garrus grumbled.

Joker limped over to his cushioned chair in the cockpit and gradually eased himself down onto it. After he was properly settled, he flicked a few buttons so that the ship could proceed with the automatic warm-up sequence in the background.

"So," he patted his hands on his legs. "Shepard's missing, you say? Well, if I had heard it from anyone else I wouldn't believe them. Who's got him?"

"Someone he pissed off in the past," Liara said.

"That's only a thousand possibilities," Joker sighed sarcastically. "There are the Reapers, Cerberus, Terminus gangs, krogan clans, and a bunch of others who would fit that bill nicely."

Liara glanced at Tali for a split second so that they could register with each other without having anyone catch the brief exchange. "I'm not familiar with the little details but we were all doing an assignment together when someone managed to grab him."

"Along with my own clone helping out," Tali added dryly.

Joker seemed to be teetering on complete acceptance or debilitating disbelief. "No shit?"

"Afraid so," Tali confirmed.

Joker let out a long, low whistle. "That's rough. I'm sorry, Tali."

"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to repay the favor once we meet up with them."

"That's the other thing I wanted to ask," Joker leaned forward. "Do you even know where he is?"

"We're headed to Xawin," Garrus answered. "We got a confirmation that Shepard was taken there on the cargo ship _Osiris_."

"How did you manage to come by that information?"

"By negotiating rather…_aggressively_," Garrus shrugged. "I have video proof of the exchange if you want to see it for yourself."

Joker was actually being a little facetious with his reluctance but sat still to watch whatever Garrus was pulling up. It seemed that the turian was a little eager to show something off so maybe it would be best to humor him for the time being.

Garrus' omni-tool opened up and he turned it so that Joker could see the image clearly. After a brief fuzz of static, the picture blared into existence. The point of view showed a huge room laden with cylindrical tubes and lines of railing that spiraled overhead. The details were a little hard to make out because the picture kept shifting from the hand-held movements. Based on the fact that Tali was leaning against a railing in the frame and that Garrus was standing over the edge, by process of elimination that meant that Liara was the one who was recording it.

As if on cue, the Garrus in the image spoke. "_You recording?_"

"_Yeah_," Liara said with no humor in her voice. "_You can continue now_."

"_Excellent_," Garrus said as he turned back around. The perspective of the image changed slightly to reveal that Garrus was standing over the edge of a cargo dock, the tube rails running just a few feet below. In his hands, he held the leg of an armored man, one who was wrapped in some military-style covering. He was clearly a mercenary from the looks of it and Garrus was visibly enjoying himself in the video.

"_I have to say_," Garrus huffed as he dangled the man over the rails. "_You're a lot heavier than I thought with that armor on_. _Should've shed some of this in the beginning so it would have been easier, one would think._"

"_Please!_" the man yelled. "_I…I don't know where Grevel went!_"

"_Oh dear_," Garrus yawned. "_I'm getting rather tired. I'm afraid my fingers are starting to slip_." Ordinarily this wouldn't have been that much of an issue but the dock happened to be suspended in the air and the tram rails ran over nothing. It would be a ten story fall from here on out.

"_Okay, okay!_" the mercenary screamed as his upside-down head traveled downward a few more inches. "_Xawin! She's going to Xawin! She's on the ship Osiris leaving from the docks now. Can you please fucking pull me back up?_"

In the real world, Garrus was chortling as his digital counterpart appeared to consider the information in a mocking manner. "_Xawin, you say? How do I know you're not lying? You could be telling me something fake so that I'll save your skin_. _I'm afraid I'm going to need something to convince me otherwise_."

"_I swear! I worked in navigation and Xawin was our next inputted target! Check the public flight records! It'll be there, I swear!_"

In a few seconds, Tali's voice emanated from the speakers. "_He's telling the truth_," she said off-screen as she undoubtedly was scouring the flight records to corroborate the mercenary's statement.

Just then, on the screen everyone reacted to a squealing noise as a faint light from an incoming tube began to make its way toward the dock. A few hundred tons of a hurtling metal cylinder was going to make mincemeat out of anyone who dared cross its path and it wasn't stopping anytime soon.

"_Okay, I've answered your questions_," the mercenary spoke rapidly. "_Now can you please let me go?_"

Nonchalantly, Garrus shrugged. "_That sounds reasonable to me_."

At the very last second, Garrus, instead of hauling the man back over the lip and onto relatively solid ground, kept the man situated over the tracks and released his fingers on the man's leg. The mercenary barely had time to fall before the oncoming metal cylinder struck him full on. Garrus stepped backward to avoid the splash of blood as the soldier's body burst apart, painting the nearby railings with red.

The last thing uttered before the footage ended was a final quip from Garrus. "_To be fair, I did give him what he wanted._"

Garrus disabled the video to smirk at Joker, his face as white as a sheet, aghast. The thin man's lips fumbled for a second before he managed to calm down and he breathed out very slowly, seeming to sink into his chair the more air he pushed out of his lungs.

"You know Garrus," Joker said numbly, "I'm just glad that you never had any reason to beat _me_ to death with the stick that was shoved up your ass."

"There's still time to make an exception," Garrus said rather nonchalantly.

"Let's not," Joker shook his head frantically. "So…Xawin, eh? Well, that's all the way in the Horse Head Nebula so that'll be a few hours before we reach the system. Also, there's a tiny problem."

"Always a catch, huh?" Liara sighed.

"I'm just pointing out that everyone assigned on the ship are technically still on shore leave. I can fly the ship, but the rest of the personnel that manages all of the other systems are absent at the moment. I can call them back, but that might take an entire day for them to arrive, assuming they _want_ to cut their shore leave short, that is."

"Don't bother," Tali said as she stepped forward. "I know this ship inside and out, better than anyone that has served here. You need an engineer, Joker? _I'm_ your engineer." She crossed her arms to signify her determination.

"Good point," Joker shrugged. "Then seeing as that's the only area necessary for space travel, then I'd say that we're set to go. If any of you want to pick your stations then you've got free reign over the ship. Just try not to touch anything that could blow us up, okay?"

"Not so sure about that," Garrus smirked. "I'll head over to my old station in the main battery, a place where many things can almost assuredly explode. I'll be careful not to disrupt the calibrations too much-"

"Oh yeah," Joker said as he perked up in his chair. "No guns to calibrate for you, Vakarian."

Garrus had begun to turn around and froze mid-stride at Joker's words. "Wh-What?"

"Yep," Joker nodded. "Since the Normandy was declassified as a warship after the war, we donated the Thanix cannons to the heavy cruiser _Montreal _since we were restricted from participating in any more space battles. It was a decree that passed about two years ago. That cannon technology is quite expensive these days after the manufacturer got hit hard on Palaven, despite its Reaper origins. Sorry about that, buddy."

"Well…crap," Garrus sighed. "In that case, I'm assuming that you have at least an armory on board?"

"Right on the shuttle deck."

"Then that's where you'll find me," Garrus said as he wheeled back towards the elevator.

"I'll get to work on the engines straight away," Tali assured Joker as she too followed the turian, Liara trailing behind her.

The three did not exchange words as the tiny box traveled further down the ship. Tali's destination was the first stop, Garrus and Liara staying behind to take an accounting of the inventory over at the armory the next floor down. Tali retraced the familiar path that she had done for years, the same walk she had performed to get to her duty station once more. Upon entering engineering, the hum of the drive core resonated on her ears, the soundtrack to her work life and a welcome one at that.

Tali walked over to her console and booted it up, using her old login info and password to access the core diagnostics. The system still accepted the inputs and allowed her full access to engineering. Now free to do whatever she wanted, Tali began typing dutifully at the keyboard to get an idea of the status of the Normandy's performance. Much to her satisfaction, everything was running at optimal levels for there was little radiation bleed, a sufficient energy conversion, and an adequate eezo consumption rate. In short, there was nothing that she could do drastically at the moment, so she figured she could use this time to do a little preparation for the upcoming mission.

Someone had installed a workbench since she had last been here and it was conveniently located next to her desk. Tali pulled up a chair and scooted herself in, finding herself at home with the array of tools displayed in front of her. She reached into her pocket and withdrew Shepard's gauntlet and glove, a little scuffed but still completely functional. She set it on the table gently and grabbed a screwdriver as she turned the glove over so that it was facing palm up.

To her frustration, there were no screws for the screwdriver to work on, but there were tiny holes that bolted the interior mechanisms in place. Tali noticed that there was a little tool with a very thin shaft that looked like it was made for the exact purpose that she had in mind. She grabbed the tool and gently pushed it into the tiny hole until there was a click; one of the locking pins had been pushed out of place.

It was easy for Tali to work on the other seven pins after she depressed them in their slots. She turned over the gauntlet and the thin paneling clattered onto the bench. Lifting it back up, Tali returned to the screwdriver and quickly unscrewed the electrodes embedded in the material, watching each screw tumble down one after another.

Once the electrodes had been removed, with dexterous fingers Tali lifted them out of the gauntlet's case, five little circles all connected by wires. She set the tangled mess down on the table as she gravitated towards a pair of wire cutters. Before she went any further with her work, she glanced over to the display at her desk. The readout currently indicated that the heat suppression system was operating at a ninety seven percent threshold. The cutoff was ninety five, so Tali decided to give herself twenty more minutes with this project before she adjusted the tiny quibbles that engineering had to offer.

She held the electrodes up and matched them to points on her own left hand. Memorizing where she wanted them to be attached, she grabbed a battery pack, a soldering gun, and went to work.

_You know I will never leave you, John. I will not stop until I kill that bitch. Just stay alive, John._

Deadly quiet, Tali stared into the glow of the tools, finding the blinding brightness beautiful. The room hissed with a few crackles of metal while the humming core accompanied it. In ten minutes, Tali held up her hand and watched it crackle as electricity surrounded it. The blue light from the electrodes sparkled and the lightning danced around her fingers.

She stared at the wondrous sight for a few minutes, imagining that she was holding Grevel's throat in her fingers, watching the lightning char and melt the turian's face. Tali replayed that death over and over in her mind until her fears were replaced by cold rage. There was a chill running down her spine, though, one last indication that it was not going to be as easy as her subconscious was leading her to believe.

But what realistic choice did she have at the moment?

Tali shut the electrodes off and numbly pushed her chair in after moving back over to her workstation. Her left hand felt heavier but it was a small price to pay for the power she now exuded. She just hoped that she could withstand the pain this time.

_You've been in my thoughts this whole time, doing nothing but tormenting me. You think that you've been able to control me with my fears. But what if I have nothing to fear anymore except you? I will show you who is truly stronger. I will show you that we are nothing alike. You took something of mine, something that you had no right to claim._

_And I will bring him back. Keelah, I swear I will bring him back._

* * *

Four soldiers quickly walked down the hallway as they wheeled the table that Shepard was strapped onto down it. Behind them, Grevel shook the snow off her coat as the clone did the same behind her. They followed at a much leisurely pace, only watching to see if Shepard would be placed right where Grevel wanted him to be.

Grevel hated Xawin. Not only was it a lifeless rock, it also happened to be a _cold_, lifeless rock. The pestilence of thresher maws roamed the frozen deserts and the temperature dropped below negative twenty after sundown. Used to much warmer climates, Grevel was prepared to call this place hell rather than any of the more spiritual people she had met in her life. Most seemed to think that hell embodied a deep pit wreathed in lava and flame. If Grevel had to guess, she would say that an icy and frozen plain would suffice as a better version of hell.

She watched Shepard on the gurney get wheeled into an empty room on her left and waited for the soldiers to leave. The human had fallen unconscious from the pain his broken leg was bringing to him. It had been a few hours since painkillers had been applied and as a result he was paying the consequences right now. Grevel ordered for a medic to attend to the stricken man via her omni-tool. Things were just not as fun when the subject was unconscious. The lack of physical reactions would just result in frustration for the captor while the captive would remain oblivious.

Grevel figured that she could wait a few more hours until she got back to tormenting Shepard. If nothing else happened within that timeframe, that is. It was not like she wanted to torture Shepard for information this time; it would be purely for sport which would only make it more fun for Grevel. Timetables, although necessary, always hampered the rush of the moment and impeded total progress.

Hands clasped behind her, Grevel walked forward and the doors parted to reveal the area where the base's power generator was housed. The climate of Xawin was too fierce to allow any power source to remain above ground, and so an enormous excavation project had been undertaken to house the necessary components underneath the dirt and within the base itself. It was simply the best option to seal vital mechanical components away from the debilitating cold.

All of this had been accomplished before Grevel's lifetime, actually. Xawin was home to one of the Broker's many hideouts and it was officially off the books in terms of its existence. The Broker had always been careful when it came to his assets and he had known that he could trust that leaving any sort of trail, paper or electronic, only increased the riskiness of discovery. Sometimes Grevel wondered how many other secrets the Broker had taken to the grave when Shepard and that asari vaporized him years ago. It was a good thing that the Broker had taken care to supply Grevel with this knowledge before his passing, knowing that this would ensure that the damnable T'Soni would not have the first clue as to where they would have gone. Not immediately at least, Grevel didn't want to make things too easy for her to find.

Standing on a gantry several stories above the generator, Grevel could hear the transformers hum as they coursed with invisible energy. The voltage sang as it melded with the metal, occasionally sparking to the tiny element zero core housed in the center of the base. Grevel glanced down to see several more stories of walkways reach across the room below her like a tight mesh, the bright white lighting illuminating the bare-bones structure of the facility.

Grevel could smell ozone, even through the filters in her mask. The acrid stink made her curl her nose in disgust but she did not move to a place where she could escape the scent. Rather, she stayed put as she took more time to examine the glinting jewel that sat below her, somewhat entranced by the knowledge that she stood atop power in its purest form.

"You seem apprehensive," she said out loud, knowing that the clone was standing close by. Grevel turned her head to see the quarian fidget in place, unsure of exactly how to respond to the statement.

"How is it that you can tell?" the clone asked.

"I have my ways," Grevel said as she turned away from the side, now fully invested in conversing. "I've been around enough people to read their body language, an aspect that you have yet to control. I know that you're having some misgivings right now and I want to hear your opinion on the matter."

"My opinion?" came the skeptical reply.

"Yes, _your_ opinion," Grevel repeated. "Specifically about…Shepard."

"What about him?"

"Well," Grevel shrugged, "Our goal is within reach and your entire existence hinged on this human in question. I suppose I'm just curious about what he means to you, specifically."

The clone with Tali's voice lifted her head in confusion. "I'm not sure that I understand the question presented."

Grevel stepped forward, her boots clanking on the metal grating. "Shepard is a unique specimen, you must understand. There are a lot of variables that I have pondered regarding this encounter, but I must admit that there are a few that I am not fully confident that I'm aware of. I just want to know what you feel when you think of Shepard. What is it that drives you to hate him like me?"

The clone looked up, then she looked down, and finally she looked at Grevel as she considered the implications of the question itself. "I have no idea or opinion on the matter," she said with confidence. "I am not sure why I hate him, but something within me is the driver that pushes me toward that objective. That…that's the extent that I can rationalize my behavior."

Grevel had been expecting such an answer but she was disappointed nonetheless. When the Broker had begun the cloning process of Tali'Zorah, he had supplanted the clone with experimental chemicals, ones that altered the quarian's cortex to implant a notion for total obedience and emotional control. It was all for the aspect of maintaining dominance, but it appeared to have sacrificed more than expected in reality. Unfortunately, while the idea sounded good on paper, Grevel was finding herself more and more displeased with the clone the more she got to know it.

_No better than a mindless drone_, she thought sourly. _The Broker went too far in trying to create a psychological weapon. This…thing cannot even integrate itself in a societal manner, therefore it isn't a complete person. What a waste._

"So you're telling me that the notion to hate Shepard is engrained in you, a sensation that you cannot escape? That's…understandable."

"I know it was what I was _designed_ to feel," the clone said sharply. "The memory implants, the constant briefings, all of it was meant to enhance my hatred for the man in an experiment to prove that you can control someone like me. Do you feel like you've succeeded?"

Grevel frowned, the mask's mandibles making a tiny clack in thought. This was starting to get dangerous. If the clone was more aware than she had thought, then this could result in a deadly psychological imbalance. Biologically, the clone operated on a reduced level of brain activity due to its fixation on the objective that it was programmed to accomplish. Now that it was starting to show tiny signs of self-awareness, Grevel wondered exactly what this would mean with regards to any future development. She might have to take steps in order to suppress this line of thinking.

She took another step forward. "In terms of your creation and purpose," Grevel began carefully, "then you _were_ a success. You had a part to play and you performed it to the letter. Any potential development with regards to cognitive operation, however, was not considered."

"So you just created me to be a servant?" the clone asked with a hint of spite. "Was hating Shepard all I am meant to accomplish? If so, then why have you still not terminated the human, or his companions for that matter? You've had the opportunity ever since the Citadel but I do not know why you have chosen to bring him to this place if all you plan to do is kill him anyway."

Grevel took several more steps until she was inches away from the clone. The quarian's back was up against the guardrail and leaning timidly backward while Grevel towered over her. Grevel's heavy breathing hissed through her mask's filter in a slow tempo, seething with anger.

"It is not your place to question my actions," Grevel said dangerously as the clone cowered, fearful that she would be struck again. "Your continued participation, although necessary, is nothing more than a hindrance now. As to your question, keeping Shepard and his friends alive is all part of the endgame that I have in place. There are several ways to destroy a person and while doing damage to the physical vessel is the most obvious solution, there are more refined ways of accomplishing such an action that you are undoubtedly unaware of."

The clone's eyes were wide with no understanding, so Grevel continued. "The psychological aspects of letting Shepard linger in pain are accomplishing several things. One, the possibility that he might die is front and center in his mind at the moment, but since he knows that his friends are still alive, there is still the hope for him that he could possibly be rescued. That hope is what we have to destroy before we destroy him so that he can accept that he has finally lost."

"And…" the clone breathed. "And how will we do that?"

"Why," Grevel sneered, "When his friends escape from their confinement, and they _will_ escape, they will certainly track us to this place and attempt to free their friend in a futile attempt. After they have failed and we present their corpses to Shepard, he will finally realize the futility of it all and will beg us to end his life. Only then will I grant his request."

"Are you insane?" the clone blurted out as she found a reserve of courage, standing up straighter that she almost head butted Grevel. "You _knew_ that they could escape and you _knew_ that we could be tracked to Xawin? We need to kill Shepard now before- _ugh!_"

Grevel held out her arm and pressed the clone back against the guardrail, her hand around the quarian's neck as she pushed her upper torso so that it was leaning precariously off the edge. "Shepard's fate is not yours to decide, little quarian. I don't need to run my thought process by you because you are _not_ my equal. You are not even _Tali'Zorah's_ equal, do you get that? Compared to all the things _that_ quarian has done, you do not deserve to hold yourself up to her standards."

Releasing the clone, the quarian began to hack as Grevel stepped back to allow her some room to breathe. "You've…never…given me…the chance!" the clone spluttered. "You _created_ me, knowing that I am stronger than her! _I am not weak!_"

"You'll have your chance to prove it soon enough!" Grevel barked loudly. "You will pit yourself against them eventually and only then will you be able to show me your true worth. But do you think that you deserve to stand up against a woman who has faced down Reapers, escaped death countless times, and even survived me? Do you think you'll last long against the _real_ Tali'Zorah?"

"Her accomplishments mean nothing to me," the clone hissed. "I can do anything she can. And when I kill her, you will have no choice but to accept my true strength!"

"_Wrong!_" Grevel screamed. "Tali'Zorah is not yours to kill! You will not lay a finger on her when the time comes. She is mine, and mine alone, to deal with."

"That's not fa-"

"_I gave you an order!_" Grevel yelled and the clone quickly stiffened, rigid as a plank at the fierce words. Grevel chuckled as she watched the quarian quit her protesting and straightened out her long coat. "Oh yes, _this_ is why you will never be as strong as Tali'Zorah. You are a clone _programmed_ to carry out my orders. Your misguided sense of free will is but an illusion for I have the power to control you with my commands. Even now, you cannot disobey me and will never be able to disobey me. You are permanently damaged by my own hands, clone, and I am the only one who can give you direction. Your existence is symbiotically tied to mine and you cannot survive without me. If I die, then you die. Simple as that."

Grevel now leaned her head down at the clone's unflinching head. She examined the quarian for a few seconds before she gave a small smile underneath her mask, ensuring that the mandibles would relay her pleasure externally. "But…there _is_ one aspect that does give you strength over your progenitor. Do you want to know what that is?"

The clone trembled for a second, as if fighting to wrench free from an invisible hand that clenched around her body. "What?" she whispered.

"First, tell me, did you notice anything between Shepard and Tali'Zorah when you met them in that restaurant? Did you spot anything out of the ordinary?"

"You mean besides the fact that they were eating together? What's so significant about that?"

"I'm sure you can figure out the answer. There is a good reason for why they chose to spend time alone together. It's up to you to connect the dots."

The clone's head finally turned in Grevel's direction, having thrown off her paralysis. "She's romantically linked with the human?"

"Exactly," Grevel nodded, noting that the clone had reacted a bit more fiercely than she would have anticipated. "In a sense, it's fascinating to assume that there is a strong possibility that your genes carry the impulse to further a relationship with the human. It is something that Tali'Zorah had been driven to do so tell me, do you feel the same way?"

"I feel _nothing_ for him!" the clone nearly screamed, only making Grevel smile wider. "The very notion that she could mate with him is…is _disgusting!_"

_How interesting_, Grevel thought. _This sort of reaction could be from the genetic environment or even from the result of the suppressed hormones. The intensity of the reaction alone is intriguing._

Grevel laughed as the clone shook from her outburst. "Then you _are_ most assuredly stronger for not limiting yourself by succumbing to those urges. But you will still not kill Tali'Zorah. That is _my_ duty, not yours. Am I understood?"

"Yes," the clone sighed. "You are."

"Go and guard Shepard's room, then. I'll be back with more instructions later."

The clone hastily departed, leaving Grevel standing alone on the catwalk. The huge turian snorted as she braced her arms against the guardrail, letting the hum of electricity surround herself with the ambiance. She patted herself down, feeling the array of weapons strapped around her to confirm that they were still attached to her body. Her combat knife, pistols, and grenades were all in the same spot, a soothing method to confirm their tangibility.

The more she thought, however, the more concerned she was with the clone overall. This sort of discussion was not anticipated and it showed an alarming level of awareness from a thing that should have been a blank slate, an empty shell. Yet, the clone could sum up its existence, question orders, and even show bursts of extreme emotion all in a single conversation. It had been fascinating to see the quarian shake as Grevel revealed the extent of Tali'Zorah's relationship with Shepard. It was almost like the thought truly shocked her to her core.

This was a problem that could be easily fixed, but Grevel didn't want to resort to her absolute last failsafe until she could determine with beyond a doubt that it would be necessary. The clone should not have been able to react so violently but the evidence provided within the last fifteen minutes had shown Grevel the extent of how much she had underestimated the nature of the quarian.

Actually, that final failsafe was sounding to start more and more appealing with each passing minute, now that she had time to consider the consequences. With that, she could definitely wipe the slate clean and start anew. The thought that neural damage could occur only imparted on Grevel's mind for a fleeting second before it was brutally crushed. Cognitive resets were risky maneuvers to be sure, but the clone most likely had not accumulated enough information to be permanently disabled from the procedure that was being considered. It was just an option to think about.

Mulling over her conflicted thoughts, Grevel didn't notice that she had drawn her knife and had begun to scrape it across the guardrail, the high pitched squeals not reaching her ears as the blade made rough gouges in the thin paint.

It would only be a matter of time before everything started to unravel.

* * *

_**A/N: Got a bout of traveling coming up in a couple weeks so hopefully I can write the climax to this story before then.**_

_**Guess that means that I'm going to have to write like hell to get that accomplished. It should definitely be worth it, though.**_


	8. Chapter 8: Catastrophic Understeer

"_Arriving at Xawin in four minutes, Tali."_

"Thank you, Joker," Tali said into her comm as she walked along the floor of the shuttle bay. Garrus and Liara were checking weapons over by the small armory that was still in place, making sure that they would be adequately equipped before heading out, so Tali decided to head over there first.

Tali grabbed a bandolier of spare thermal clips and slung them over her shoulder. Garrus slid his sniper rifle into the holster on his back and Liara slammed two submachine guns down at her sides. Each one of them took a handful of grenades and hooked them around their ammo belts.

The armory contained a few extra goodies that they had left behind since the war. Tali attached a black gauntlet around her left arm while Liara put on an extra suit of armor that she had worn during the Thessia campaign that had been left in storage this whole time. Garrus did not change his protection, but swapped out his eyepiece for a red-tinted tactical one. All of them now looked like they were ready to wage war.

"_Just dropped out of FTL, guys_," Joker's voice said through the intercom. "_ETA to target area is five point three minutes. Suggest you all bundle up because it looks quite cold down there_."

"Wonderful," Garrus groused. "First intergalactic mission in three years and we happen to travel to a planet that is not really conducive to turians, climate-wise. Who enjoys the cold, seriously?"

"It does make this place better hidden," Liara offered. "A nice hideout well away from a populated city, one that is dominated by inhabitants that are quite aggressive, and a deterring climate are all perfect reasons why Xawin would have been used as a base. We've been here once, Garrus, remember?"

"_I_ didn't go," he corrected. "Shepard took you and Wrex down there because I was adamant against slogging through the snow and freezing my ass off."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that."

"We can discuss this later," Tali interrupted as she turned to face the two of them. "Right now, we need to focus on getting down to that planet quickly. The more time we waste, the more John remains in danger. We can't afford one second of hesitation, not with John in Grevel's hands!"

"Tali…" Liara began, "Don't you think that you should start to consider the possibility that everything isn't okay? I mean, what if Shepard is…is really…"

Tali's fierce gaze was hardened as if she was forged from steel. Liara was taken aback at the pure ruthlessness that those eyes fired towards her. Instead of an outburst, Tali's voice was low and quiet. "If you were this close to him, could you bring yourself to believe such a thing, Liara?"

The asari remained silent, which allowed Tali to make the next move as she tapped on a control panel for the hangar machinery. With a whirring of gears and the groaning of hydraulics, the nearby crane shifted and pulled up a huge object along with it. As soon as it positioned itself over the clear center strip, the crane released its cargo and it crashed down to the ground with a heavy thump, but the shock absorbers lessened the severe impact, causing it to bounce on its six wheels.

"Everyone get in," Tali ordered as she gestured to the Mako behind her. "I'm driving."

Immediately, Garrus let out a disbelieving laugh that sounded a lot like a punctured tire, the pitch gradually getting higher and higher. Sensing that Tali was one hundred percent serious, though, Garrus quickly strangled his laugh and straightened, but not before Tali rounded on him.

"Is something funny, Garrus?" There was no humor in her tone.

"No…it's just…" he gestured as he fruitlessly tried to find the right words but ended up admitting defeat very quickly. "I really hated riding in the Mako and I was figuring that we would take the _shuttle_ to get there…"

Tali gave out an explosive sigh as she tilted her head upward. "Stop your whining, Garrus! Are you seriously going to argue over transport before we even get down there?"

"I just have bad memories of the experience, is all."

"You're going to have _worse_ memories in a moment if we don't act quickly. Anything else you want to add before we get out? No more stupid comments from you?"

"You sure you don't want to take the Hammerhead instead?" Garrus said despite the danger. "It's way more comfortable than the-"

Completely indignant, Tali rushed forward gave Garrus a shove so hard that his back bounced off the far weapons rack. His foot caught on a dislodged pistol and he fell on his tailbone, bouncing on it uncomfortably. Liara opened her mouth in shock and Tali rushed forward as she now towered over the stunned turian.

"_Listen_, Garrus!" Tali raged, "I don't give a _damn_ if your backside is going to hurt from sitting in that thing! All I care about is getting John out of there alive and to do that, we need to use a transport that won't blow up from less than five seconds of sustained gunfire! I know what it is we're dealing with because I lived it and we need to have all of the available firepower on our side in order to do this. No more excuses, Garrus, so all I want to see is your ass getting in that tank right now!"

Garrus' mandibles were wide in astonishment at the completely livid quarian standing over him. With a shaking hand, he gradually eased himself up and managed a slow nod as he edged around Tali and walked over to the Mako. Tali didn't watch him leave, but instead continued to stare at the wall for a few extra seconds before she leaned against the nearby desk as she suddenly felt faint.

Her arms held her upper torso up as she hung her head down for a brief moment. Tali could feel a few tears start to trickle down her cheeks and she whimpered in frustration. She was faltering at a critical time and her complete lack of control was so discouraging to her that her legs wobbled as they considered giving out right there.

However, she felt a light touch on her back as Liara stepped up to put an arm around her. "What am I doing, Liara?" she whispered helplessly. "I've been lashing out at my friends when I should have been saving it for…for Grevel. Why…why can't I control myself now?"

"It's natural, Tali," Liara soothed. "We all understand, even Garrus does too. We both know how much you're hurting for Shepard, what that desire is doing to you."

"I'm…I'm becoming a _monster_, Liara. Just like her…"

"Stop that, Tali," Liara said harshly. "You are nothing like Grevel. Nothing. You have lived a fuller life than that pathetic woman. You have friends and people who love you. What does she have? Just a flimsy copy of you that is incapable of matching the potential of its genetic host. You can't let her get to you, Tali. Not now…not now."

"What if…what if I can't help myself? What if I'm too scared to face her again?"

The hand slowly wrapped around Tali in a one-armed hug. Liara leaned her head on the quarian's shoulder, finding a surprisingly strong support embedded there. "You just have to think about something else, Tali. You have to focus on finding the one thing that has motivated you this whole time and you _think of that one thing_, no matter what! What will you think of, Tali?"

Liara could feel the muscles in Tali's arms tense as they relayed to her the status of deep thought that the quarian was going through. It didn't take long for her to come up with an answer, but her voice was so quiet that Liara barely caught it.

"John…" Tali whispered, lips trembling. "I…I want John." She turned in Liara's direction, watching her give a friendly smile as her desires caused everything else to evaporate in front of her. "I'll…I'll think of John. I _l-love_ him, Liara."

Liara beamed as Tali slowly lifted her head back up. "And that's why you're going to succeed. Because you have a greater reason to win than she does. Grevel's doing this for nothing while you're doing this for _everything_. You're doing this for _Shepard_."

Tali was silent but it was very obvious that she was smiling now, fueled by Liara's gentle words. Tali pushed off the table so that she was standing back up, but with a slower pace that indicated her strengthened attitude and resolve.

"Thank you, Liara," Tali sighed in relief. "Just…thank you."

"Don't mention it. But, since Garrus has been waiting all this time in the Mako," Liara gestured towards the enormous tank still idling in the middle of the hangar. "What do you say that we take it out for a spin and kill that bitch once and for all?"

Tali laughed, her gaze quickly lowering in determination as her shaky voice ironed out. "You read my mind, Liara. Now, if you don't mind, I think that I'll be the one driving today."

* * *

As far as sleeping arrangements went, this had to rank up in the top ten of his life. The soft satin sheets snuggled around him as if they were all intent on smothering him with their billowiness. The contrast in temperature between the bed and the surrounding room was at just the right level that he didn't feel like getting out of bed entirely. That caused some sort of paralytic state to activate within him, perfectly content in his current position with no overwhelming desire to as so much as twitch a finger.

Shame too, because his internal clock told him that he would have to wake up in a few minutes anyway. Usually when he was coming out of a deep sleep, his alarm would dutifully broadcast its wailing note and cause him to break his mini-coma in order to deactivate the damn thing. The admiral of the Normandy always has to be punctual in order to meet the demands of the day and the alarm was the ultimate dictator.

But there was something within that told him not to let himself be controlled by a rousing noise. He was way too comfortable and too tired to let his morning be ruined at the outset. No, he would take care of this problem now and maybe work to catch at least a half an hour more of rest. Hopefully no one would notice his absence in that time.

With a groan, he reached out to brush his fingers along the alarm system on the nightstand, but he only groped at an empty surface. No matter how much he fumbled, he was unable to locate the blasted thing. It could likely go off at any moment so perhaps this was a job that required eyesight to perform properly. That was definitely an impediment towards progress overall.

Even with his blurry vision as he pried his head from the pillow, he could see that he was certainly not in his cabin. It took him a few heartbeats to realize that the unfamiliar settings strangely looked like his apartment back on the Citadel. Exactly how this came to pass was odd, for he had no recollection of getting back here in the first place. He should be on the Normandy, shouldn't he? If so, then how the hell did he even get here?

He shrugged and flopped down onto the comfy bed in relief, his conflicted thoughts vanishing suspiciously but he paid them no mind. No alarm meant that he could sleep in a little more at least. Apparently good things had the tremendous fortune to happen to good people sometimes.

About to close his eyes, he was gazing at a serene watercolor painting on the far wall when he felt the light touch of fingers gently slide across the muscles on his back. Startled, he rolled over to find the other side of the bed occupied, the individual in question sharing a sleepy smile at his confusion.

"You woke up early too?" Tali asked as she ran a hand along his scruffy cheek. "I do that a lot now."

Tali was, for some odd reason, out of her suit but the covers were pulled over her chest as they lay together in bed. It really wouldn't take a stretch of the imagination to figure out if she was wearing any additional articles underneath the covers, but that was hardly a point to focus on at the moment.

"It's a habit I haven't been able to break yet, I guess," Shepard found himself saying automatically, nonplussed but still adhering to manners by responding to her query politely.

Tali giggled at him, her features sparkling. Her hair was all bunched up, messy from tossing and turning last night. Her genuine smile seemed to feed a fire inside him because Shepard could view with absolute certainty that Tali was happy right in front of him. Her joy certainly was contagious, bless her.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" he asked out loud as he propped his head up with his hand. "There's just no explanation for how this could be possible."

Tali frowned but mimicked his movements, brushing a three fingered hand over his chest, ticking Shepard. She didn't answer verbally but gave a solemn nod in confirmation. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," Shepard smiled as he drew Tali closer to him. The warmth that their bodies shared was the kind of heat that managed to be rejuvenating but not overbearing. The feel of her smooth skin against his certainly was an added bonus as well. "There are many worse things to dream about."

"Good," Tali whispered as she snuggled her head under Shepard's chin. "I'd hate for you to be uncomfortable, John."

"It does beat the real world," he admitted as he twitched his toes on his right foot, the memories beginning to flow back to him. "Over there I figure I'm hurting quite a bit."

"But not for long," Tali whispered, her eyes closed as she melded to Shepard, who began to rub at her scalp. "I haven't given up yet, John."

"What are you saying, Tali?"

She raised her head and tipped her lips up in the kind of smile that implied a hidden secret shared between two dear friends. "I'm saying that I'm coming for you. I'm close by as we speak."

"But how can you tell me this?" Shepard grasped as he tried to reason with the logic. "If this is really in my head, then how is it that you can be so certain of what '_you're'_ really doing?"

"Because," she whispered as she gently planted a kiss on Shepard's shaking lips, "we both promised a long time ago to come back to the other, no matter what. I know for a fact that _'I'_ will never break that promise. You'd have to kill me to ensure that that never happens."

"But that's what I'm worried about, Tali," Shepard pleaded. "If you're that willing to die for me, then how could I live with myself if you _do_ end up getting killed? How can you rationalize potentially trading your life for nothing?"

"I tend not to think about those details too much," Tali shrugged impassively. "But you've forgotten that I've _always_ been willing to die for you, because you are totally worth it."

Shepard gave his broadest smile as he patted Tali lightly on the cheek in pride. Tali held his hand there as she soaked up the feel of his calloused palm on her delicate skin, making a tiny moan as she closed her eyes in bliss. Opening them again, Shepard stared deep into the glowing white pools as Tali slowly wrapped her arms around him in a gently hug, exposing her bare back as the sheets slid off her body. Shepard clutched her close, feeling her ribs rise and fall with her deep breathing.

Her long hair tickling the side of his head, he could feel her breath in his ear as she gave her softest whisper yet. "_Live, John. Fight for me. I'm coming back to you. Live_."

"I will, Tali," he promised as his skin began to prickle with discomfort. "I will."

In a flash, the warm sensation of the bed vanished, replaced by a jutting pain as his back arched achingly on a long table. The warm glow from his bedroom was drowned out by the glaring light perched annoyingly overhead, bathing his face in white. He couldn't throw up a hand to protect his eyes because they were still cuffed down, the orange glow from the omni-cuffs denoting their strength.

The last smile of Tali engrained in his mind, she vanished from sight in the blink of an eye, replacing her warmth with a sudden chill. He thrashed on the table, looking around at the bare room that held him, trying to make sense of his bearings.

Sleep, or rather the period in which he had remained unconscious, had been so comfortable that it felt like it saved his life. He simultaneously felt rested from the reprieve but disappointed that the experience had to end so soon. Doubly disappointing was the fact that he woke up neither on the Normandy or in his apartment, but in this foreign place that reminded him of a disused hospital, the bright white walls giving an unearthly glare.

Shepard tried to move his feet but he roared out as his right leg, still broken, flared from the sudden movement, causing Shepard to nearly bite through his lip for the pain was so intense. He could feel the snapped bone grate around inside his leg, the sensation like thousands of pins and needles had been callously shoved in and shaken around so that each movement would produce feeling akin to being stabbed with a giant stake.

Willing his leg to remain still and with sweat beginning to pour down his forehead, Shepard had no choice but to look up at the drab ceiling and hope that his dreams (or hallucinations) had close ties with reality.

But, since he currently found himself lacking with anyone to interact with except his agony, all he could think to do at the moment was to lie unmoving, taking the time to curse intermittently when his leg would flicker a burst of irritation from his nerves.

Praying that mercy was near, Shepard focused his mind on Tali, replaying in his head his happiest memories of her while he waited.

* * *

Down the hall, the room was just as drab as the one Shepard was currently encased in, aside from the fact that a simple desk and chair had been set up in the middle. The first thing the trooper saw as he entered was Grevel sitting behind the desk with the quarian clone skulking at the side. He paid the quarian no mind as he focused on delivering his report to the one who cut his checks every month.

"Commander," the trooper offered as he entered. "We've picked up an unidentified object passing through the atmosphere. We're reading no HE signs but the electromagnetic sensors are showing the outline of the Normandy, Admiral Shepard's vessel."

Grevel gave a curt nod as she considered the news. "Hm, that was quick of them. Is that all?"

"It appears to be making an insertion drop. Squad Four has reported the possibility of a Mako class assault vehicle being deposited on the ground. It would be too risky for them to make the trek in a shuttle."

"So it seems they're bringing out the extra firepower while negating our anti-air defenses," Grevel mused. "Well, we can answer that call. Give orders to Squads One through Six and tell them to find that transport and disable it. Better yet, send out the Hammerhead to assist."

"Is that wise?" the clone spoke out, causing the trooper to look at her in confusion while Grevel whirled in her seat. "You're just going to leave the base relatively unprotected if you-"

"_Enough_," Grevel hissed, using her hand to signal a cutoff. To the trooper, she turned back, her tone low and shaking. "You have your orders, Lieutenant. Oh, and make sure you try to bring the intruders back alive. If not, make sure their corpses are reasonably presentable. I can't do much with distributed bits."

The trooper muttered, "Commander," as he departed, leaving Grevel alone with the clone again.

"Tell me," Grevel said dangerously as she slowly began to stand up from her chair while adjusting her coat. "What possessed you to question my orders so blatantly when there were subordinates within clear earshot?"

"You just ordered almost all of the troops out of the base, leaving only a handful behind to protect this place!" the clone said in horror. "What if they fail to stop them from reaching here?"

"It's not a question of 'if,'" Grevel said evenly. "But a question of 'when.'"

The clone seemed to be rooted to the spot from the amount of confusion pressing down on her shoulders. Grevel's confident body language was not disguised in any manner and the clone could see the intonations very clearly. "You know…" she said quietly. "You know that the squads are incapable of terminating Tali'Zorah and her allies but you ordered them out anyway?"

"They will all just get in my way otherwise. But the three of them, Zorah, T'Soni, and Vakarian certainly deduced our location quite rapidly. They certainly are nothing if not tenacious. How amusing."

"You _knew_ about Vakarian too?" the clone screamed. "I thought you had a plan to contain him back in the Archives, to make him separated from everyone else so that there would be no possibility of a rescue!"

Grevel shrugged. "If I had done that, then how would have Tali'Zorah and T'Soni have managed to escape? How else could they have freed themselves from the impenetrable prison I locked them in?"

"You…_intentionally_ let them go?"

"I needed for them to hit a roadblock," Grevel explained. "The Archive container was strong enough to keep them occupied for a short time. I was counting on Vakarian to stumble across the open console that would release them while we made our escape. It gave us a head start to get set up in this place, but I'm impressed at how quickly they've met all of the challenges thrown at them. It was all part of the hope that I allowed them to feel. Now that they have the illusion that they are free, all of them will come here of their own accord which will serve as the backdrop to their demise."

"I just don't understand at how _stupid_ all this sounds," the clone spat bitterly.

"_What?_" Grevel spoke softly, the red diodes on her mask brimming with fury, threatening to burst out of the glass.

"You had a chance to kill Zorah and T'Soni, yet you didn't. You've had Shepard in your custody for hours, yet he's still not dead. You may be using all of this as some elaborate scheme to bait everyone into fighting you but all I see is someone so obsessed with revenge that they're ignoring all the logic that has been shoved in front of their face! You just can't stand the idea of losing that you're intentionally savoring the feeling of superiority that it has gotten to your head, you idiot! Why haven't-"

The blow was delivered so quick that the clone did not even have time to blink. The quarian suddenly found herself on the floor, the taste of blood in her mouth. The side of her head hurt where the armored fist had impacted and she gingerly rubbed at the spot, feeling the indentation that the knuckles had made.

The clone noted that there were no breaches at the moment, but there was the faint hint of a crack in the lower right side of her visor, a hairline fracture. Blinking the stars out of her vision, she struggled to get back to her feet but Grevel knelt down and shoved the clone's shoulders back down to the floor.

"I never expected you to understand my reasoning," Grevel growled, the mandibles of the mask rising and falling with her words, "seeing that you've never had to withstand the trials that I endured. But the fact that you could suggest that I'm emotionally impaired, from Shepard _and_ Tali'Zorah, is bullshit. Coming from you, it's _insulting_, seeing that you were designed to _be_ emotionally impaired. You are a broken excuse for a person, no better than a bastard."

Grevel tilted her head and the mask's mandibles parted in a grin. "No," she seethed. "You don't even qualify as a bastard. You are no one's child. You are the product of _test tubes_, an abomination created from science. Not only that, but you are not supposed to be capable of such rebellious thoughts. You were not created to dissent with my orders, you were created to _comply_ with them. Disagreeing with your maker is grounds for termination in my book, but you still have some use left in you. I think I'll make the most of it."

The clone struggled in Grevel's grip as she fought to rise but Grevel grabbed the quarian's head and slammed on the concrete, stunning her. "I had hoped not to use this," Grevel sighed, "but you have developed far beyond my initial parameters. If you will only continue to be argumentative and not a loyal soldier, then I believe that it's time to evoke the Eidolon Regulation."

The clone grunted as she bucked her hips but Grevel planted a knee on her stomach and drove it down forcefully, knocking the air out of the quarian's lungs.

"The Regulation is a hidden process that I convinced the Broker to implement," Grevel explained as the clone wheezed in pain. "When we have the ability to create life with our own hands, we can shape it however we like. In your state, you are merely a tool, a computer that is waiting for the next command. The product of your brainwashing will soon become apparent, I'm afraid. You will still remember events from the past, but your entire personality will essentially be wiped out. You will effectively be erased."

"_No!_" the clone yelled, muffled as she continued to writhe in Grevel's grip. "No, no, no!"

"ID nine-nine-five-two-five," Grevel said patiently, looking at the clone's eyes without care or mercy. "Passphrase: '_She was all I had_.' Code word: BLACKBURN. Acknowledge input and reset."

The clone began to scream but it quickly died off as the quarian's voice trailed off unexpectedly. The warbling cry seemingly got lost in her throat but she did not make a sound afterward. Ceasing her struggling, Grevel smiled and allowed the clone to stand after releasing it, waiting for a chance for interaction.

The clone's eyes were blank vessels behind the dark red visor and Grevel could see them poring over the room that they were standing in. The quarian held one of her arms as if she was wounded and her movements were sluggish like she had gotten roused from a long nap. Finally, the clone seemed to notice Grevel standing in front of her and fought to make her body seem as rigid as physically possible.

"Commander Grevel," the clone dipped her head politely. "I apologize for any problems I might have caused in the past. I am here to serve you, as requested. What will you have me do?"

Grevel was completely satisfied at the reactions the clone gave out and surprised at how quick it took for the change to implement itself. No backtalk, no insubordinate attitude, and no recollection of her past behavior. Just a prompt and eager query to please her master. The spoken commands had worked to perfection. _I should've done this a long time ago_, she thought.

"Go to Shepard's cell and guard him with your life," Grevel said, not wasting any time with formalities. "He should be conscious by now and he will be the target for the enemies currently approaching."

"Understood," the clone said without hesitation and it walked out of the room without the need for it to be prompted any further, only focused on accomplishing the task that had been set specifically for her.

Grevel just smiled, allowing the hiss of her breath out of her mask's filters to reveal her true emotional status. She turned out of the room after the clone and hastened down the hall. She had the nagging feeling that she should taunt Shepard some more before she headed out, but felt that the time was not yet right. She needed to get into position as soon as possible, so she took the opposite direction down the hall and tugged at the corners of her coat in anticipation.

Playing over all of the possible future scenarios in her head, Grevel's mood got brighter as she headed across the metal gantries to the hatch on the far side of the hallway.

* * *

The brief rush of zero gravity was familiar yet still terrifying. As soon as all six wheels rolled off the ramp and out into the open air, everyone's heart rates spiked simultaneously.

To their credit, no one made a peep the ride down, despite the fact that Garrus' jaw was clenched so tightly that his teeth seemed like they were about to crack apart. Each person was holding onto their safety straps firmly, still not being able to shake the slim possibility that the automated thrusters would fail to activate in time, thus dispersing the Mako and its passengers in a rather fiery mess on the ground. Despite having done this a dozen times in the past, the thought that their luck could run out at any moment was front and center in their mind. Experience had not been able to trump misgivings in this case.

Fortunately, the kick of the thrusters engaged after ten seconds of falling, producing a silent sigh of relief. Now that their velocity was slowing, Tali grabbed at the controls and angled the Mako so that the impact's severity could be lessened. Reading the instrumentation, she adjusted the thruster power levels until it was at the correct orientation for the level ground below.

With a series of thumps and one huge lurch, the Mako landed, its tires immediately sinking into the powdery snow as the wind blew around them.

"All right," Tali breathed out. "Good landing."

"Glad that's over with," Garrus grumbled as he maneuvered over to the turret controls. "Just find me something to shoot so that I can forget that I'm stuffed inside a tin box."

"I have it worse," Liara offered. "I'm stuck in this box with _you_."

That produced a round of chuckles in the Mako and even Tali laughed a bit. All of them adjusted themselves so that they were properly settled in their seats, finding the nostalgia return just as uncomfortably as before.

Tali had re-familiarized herself with the controls back on the Normandy and gingerly depressed the gas pedal, causing the tires to spin uselessly in the snow for a second until they found purchase, allowing the tank to drive off. She grasped at the steering wheel, fiddling with it for a second before she got used to the handling of the enormous vehicle.

Xawin was not exactly a good looking planet. In terms of its livability, it might even have cracked the top half of all the places in the galaxy, but that still did not mean that it was downright depressing outside. Snow covered everything in sight, dark clouds surrounded the sky, and if it weren't for the enhanced VL sensors the Mako came equipped with, the raging snowstorm outside would have rendered further progression impossible due to the intensity of the slush raining down.

Garrus peered through his instruments at the wasteland before him. "Cold and desolate," he confirmed. "It looked like a snowy rock from space and it looks like a snowy rock from the surface. Go figure."

"I will admit," Liara said, "that it looks exactly like the same place as- _oof!_"

"Sorry!" Tali said as the Mako lurched to the side. "Didn't know there was a rock buried underneath that snowdrift."

"As I was saying," Liara glared, "Xawin doesn't really seem to have much variation as the other part of the planet I visited with Shepard. Snow, hills, dark lighting, it all looks the same."

With fewer errors, Tali drove the Mako around the curve of a hill, preferring to keep the tank on leveler ground rather than hoof it over slopes. She had learned long ago that although the Mako was designed to tackle mountains with its vertically aligned mass effect fields, that did not necessarily mean that the occupants were designed to ride it out comfortably.

On the navigation screen, satellite courtesy of the Normandy, the marker denoting the destination of Grevel's ship lay pinpointed directly in front of them. Joker had deposited them only fifty kilometers away so if Tali maintained their speed of 100, then they should reach the place where Shepard was being held in half an hour.

Score one for Citadel mandated ship records.

"Why do you think that Grevel wanted to come here?" Tali asked Liara as she sped the Mako down a shallow hill. "Doesn't seem to be much on this planet that could entice anyone to live in this forsaken place."

"Most likely she's using a Broker base," Liara guessed. "The old Broker was clever enough not to put everything he knew on electronic databases. I surmise that he took a bunch of secrets to the grave as he probably set aside plans that he didn't want anyone else to interfere with."

"Meaning you."

"Probably," Liara agreed. "But Xawin was probably chosen because of the climate being a deterrent, but also there are several cobalt and copper veins that could provide a healthy source of income for any prospecting individuals in the area. So it has the resources to keep a potential base operating here."

"Lucky us," Garrus grumbled as he jolted in his seat. "Because we're about to see what that income has bought close up. I've spotted at least five tango squads setting up emplacements on the ridge above us. Twenty degrees at eleven!"

Tali angled the Mako so that the forward cameras could pick up what Garrus was referring to. Sure enough, on the display screen, around twenty individuals were placing down turrets and maneuvering themselves into foxholes that had already been dug. Using the high ground to their advantage, the mercenaries began to open fire, unloading their weapons on the machine a quarter of a mile down the hill.

"We're taking fire," Tali said calmly, instinctively glancing at the shield readout. It barely registered the small arms fire and the armor had not registered any breaches. So far, so good. "Garrus, can you hit any of them from this angle?"

Garrus swiveled the turret and pulled the trigger but the machine gun only raked the edge of the cliff, unable to hit the soldiers after they had backed out of eyesight. Puffs of snow and bits of dirt flew in the air, gently tumbling down the slope to rest in the powder.

"That's a solid 'no' on that, Tali," Garrus sighed. "Won't be able to get them from our position."

"Topography shows a gentler incline on the opposite side of the ridge," Liara indicated on the map. "If you want to engage, we'll stand a better chance if we go around that way."

"No point in being suicidal yet," Tali grimaced as she yanked the wheel to the left, turning the axle in the indicated direction. Tires squealing, the Mako jumped at full speed, racing across the snow and leaving huge gouges in the ground from her aggressive driving.

"Got heavies lining the ridge," Garrus warned. A moment later a thump echoed through the cabin, nothing too debilitating but noticeable nonetheless. "They're firing rockets at us."

"I noticed," Tali said dryly as she swerved to avoid another volley.

Red streaks passed them by, angled steep from the difference in elevation. One rocket found the ground in front of them and detonated, sending up a plume of smoke. Determined, Tali did not slow her charge and the Mako leapt through the smoking crater unharmed.

"You sure you can't do something about them?" she yelled toward Garrus.

"Working on it," he answered. Garrus steadied his hands as the reticle hovered over an individual. Easier said than done, especially when the attached gun was moving in a perpendicular direction relative to the target. Regardless, Garrus breathed in and squeezed the trigger.

The heavy on the ridge exploded in a cloud of blood, torn apart from the heavy rounds. Quickly, Garrus swerved the turret to the right, hoping to catch his cohorts before they dove back to cover. The bullets continued to hit their mark as another was bisected from the fire and a final soldier's leg was blown clean off as a low round passed through his body. To add insult to injury, the new amputee lost his balance and toppled the wrong way down the cliff. Blood and pieces of armor were flung into the air as he tumbled helplessly down the slope, finally coming to rest ten seconds later, albeit knocked unconscious and bleeding to death.

"Heavies are taken care of," Garrus reported.

"Time to go on the offensive," Tali growled as she yanked the steering to the right, roaring the Mako up the slope. It tackled the increased gradient with ease and most of the troops on top of the ridge had not properly relocated in time to meet the new challenger, allowing the vehicle's journey to go on unmolested.

With a screaming of tires, the velocity of the Mako propelled it into the air as it reached the lip, momentarily airborne. Following the laws of gravity to the letter (despite the gravity being lesser than normal on Xawin) the Mako crashed down hard and one of its tires smashed into a foxhole, crushing the three soldiers who had taken refuge there into a paste.

"_Now_ we're talking!" Garrus crowed as he went to town with the guns. Now that he had more room to play with, Garrus switched to the 155 mm cannon and fired on the nearest grouping of enemies. A crater formed on the hill from the force of the explosion and five bodies vanished in a burst of flame, disintegrated from the blast.

Gleeful and oblivious to danger, Garrus rotated the turret as Tali kept the vehicle moving to lessen their chances of getting hit. He fired again and more bodies were ripped apart from the intense shockwave, spraying the pristine white snow with red. While the cannon was reloading, Garrus used the machine gun in the interim, watching as a man jerked from the ten slugs tearing their way through his body. Carnage and the stink of blood erupted on all sides, but the occupants inhabiting the Mako carried on impassively, desensitized to the violence.

Tali was driving like a madman. She swerved around a grenade a soldier had thrown in the Mako's direction, using the new diversion to run him over casually. The enormous tires crushed the man's bones, snapping him beyond repair. She did this to the other soldiers that Garrus was not able to hit with the turret, either running them down or hitting them with the jutting bumper. At her speed, even a light hit resulted in something being broken and in no time, the hill was quiet.

The peace would not last for very long, though. "Got a new target!" Liara shouted. "Approaching fast, definitely a vehicle."

Liara's warning almost came too late for the laser detection array squealed an alarm, indicating that something had locked onto them. With a curse, Tali rammed her foot down on the gas and shot the Mako off the far cliff into the valley below. An instant later, an explosion shook the space the tank had just occupied seconds before, causing warmth to bloom in the frozen desert.

"Where is he?!" Tali shouted as she remained fixated on the path in front of her. She made tiny adjustments to the steering wheel, accounting for enemy fire to be upon them at any second.

"Behind us at two hundred meters! Garrus, do you see him?"

"No! I can't see crap in this- wait, I've got him on thermals! Hammerhead on fast approach! He's opening fire!"

The Hammerhead was one of the many attack vehicles favored by military personnel across the galaxy. Lightly armored but devilishly quick, the Hammerhead could make a formidable foe for the sluggish Mako. Add to the fact that it was equipped with a homing missile system, then that made the Mako's chance at a victory dwindle on the spot.

To corroborate with the turian's warning, a hissing sound of a nearby rocket screamed past, impacting on the cliff wall on Tali's side. She swore under her breath and glanced at the map in confirmation.

"Liara," she got out, "there's no exit out of this valley except for a canyon ahead. We'll be an easy target if we go that way because we won't be able to maneuver!"

"Well, we can't exactly go back," Liara said. "That Hammerhead will chew us up if we attack it head on!"

"If we go into the canyon, we'll be killed! We can't-"

"No, Tali!" Garrus shouted. "The canyon is our best option. We can beat this thing."

Tali couldn't turn her head around to look at the turian but her trembling voice spoke volumes. "Are you sure, Garrus?"

"Yes! Trust me, I have a plan."

There was something about his genuine tone, but whatever it was, it did assuage Tali a bit. "_Ancestors_," she prayed silently, "_let me see this day through. Fly me the strength to get to John._" Opening her eyes, she took a big breath and then expelled it as she increased the throttle to maximum, sending the Mako speeding through the small opening.

The canyon was a straight shot, eroded into its shape from the whistling winds. It became gradually narrower and narrower as the Mako proceeded, but the tiny hole in the distance sparked white: the exit. Fueled by the notion of escape, Tali's arms froze on the wheel, not moving it an inch for a slight deviation could result in a crash with potentially fatal consequences.

"Hammerhead on our six," Garrus called out. "Still out of range of its missiles."

That didn't necessarily mean that it could still fire, but since the Mako was outside of its five hundred meter range for it to lock on to their heat signature, the pilot of the Hammerhead resorted to firing the missiles blind. Fortunately, the missiles without the laser guidance were notoriously inaccurate and many simply hit the canyon's walls, none of them even getting close to the Mako.

"Do you have a shot, Garrus?" Liara asked, worried.

"Going to try for one," he said grimly before he fired. The enormous round sailed straight and true but the Hammerhead saw the shot coming and quickly fired its vertical thrusters, passing almost lazily over the explosion.

"Damn!" Garrus spat. "It's too quick for the cannon and too far out for the machine gun. It's also gaining."

"We're almost there!" Tali cried as she concentrated on the lone speck in the distance, willing the machine to use every single horsepower that it had embedded in the engine. She leaned forward in her seat as if her displaced weight could cause the distribution of power to function better.

The odd shaped craft behind them straightened out and fired its boosters, rapidly closing the gap behind them. In seconds, it had met the ideal distance and slowed down to avoid getting shot to ribbons from the Mako's machine gun. Pausing a beat, the Hammerhead adjusted its orientation before its turret swiveled in place. With a racking of ammunition, the cannon fired.

The laser detection array once again blared caution and Garrus shouted, "It locked on!" Tali, on the other hand, felt only ice water running through her veins as she glanced at the rear camera. Quickly moving her hand to the control panel on the median and timing it with the missile's velocity, she tapped a button and held it, already prepared for the nauseating lurch as the Mako's ground thrusters fired, lifting it up into the air several meters.

Liara cried out, certain that Tali's maneuver had been performed too early. The Hammerhead also matched the Mako's move in anticipation, lifting itself up so that it could avoid any potential fire. The missile, detecting the Mako moving upward, angled its trajectory so that it was now travelling up as well, seconds away from impact.

Suddenly, Tali slammed her hand down on another button and the Mako's _top_ thrusters fired, forcing it back down to the ground. The missile detected the move too late and tried to propel itself back down but its proximity sensors registered contact anyway and it detonated in midair. The force from the blast helped thrust the Mako down at a faster rate, causing the axle to snap as it was bent horribly out of shape when it impacted.

Rattled from the collision with the ground but quickly gaining back his composure, Garrus looked through the turret display to see the Hammerhead still lazily floating back down, its thrusters glowing red hot despite the surrounding cold.

"You just used all of your thruster power, pal," Garrus smirked as he pulled the trigger one final time. The heavy round punched through the Hammerhead's outer shell like it was tin foil, a burning hole visible for a nanosecond before the breached element zero core erupted in a flash of blue and orange. A rolling cloud of fire pushed itself out of the canyon and metal parts sprayed the interior.

Everyone in the Mako cheered as Garrus whooped his victory, but their joy was short-lived the second the tank burst out into the open. Hitting the ground at a bad angle, the tortured chassis finally gave out as the right front wheel snapped off completely, ripping open the undercarriage at the same time.

Groaning, the front side collapsed and the Mako dug itself into the snow as it slid for a hundred meters. The deceleration was relatively uneventful and by the time the friction had stopped the vehicle completely, no one inside was unharmed. Shaken, but unharmed.

After checking herself over for injuries, Tali tapped at the Mako's systems, shutting them down one by one. Everyone began unstrapping themselves and gradually gravitated towards the hold where they could stretch out for a bit prior to their next move.

"Well, the good news is that we're within walking distance of the base," Liara said as she checked her mini-map on her omni-tool. "Bad news…is that we actually _have_ to walk. There seem to be two entrances to the facility, if I'm reading these images correctly. There's the main base, but there seems to be an access hatch about two hundred meters northwest of us. Not sure what the advantages are to both, seeing as I don't have the blueprints to the facility."

"Then I guess that means we're splitting up," Tali said. She looked at Garrus and Liara and watched their breath begin to fog as the Mako's interior temperature steadily dropped. She lifted her hands in acceptance and continued with no hesitation in her voice. "I'll be the one to check out the access hatch while you guys take the main entrance."

"You sure, Tali?" Liara asked. It wasn't a protest for her not to go, but a genuine question to make sure that she knew what she was doing.

Tali nodded as she stood up. "I'll be fine on my own. We can cover more ground if we split up."

"You sure you don't want me to come with you? What if you run into Grevel by yourself?"

"And what if you come with me and _Garrus_ runs into Grevel by himself? It's just going to run in an endless circle of debate if we continue to stall ourselves here. Liara, I'll be _fine_. I won't give her the chance to kill me, if that's what you're worried about."

Liara got to her feet to match Tali and gave her a quick hug. The quarian returned the gesture and when they broke apart, she could see the asari's eyes shine a little bit.

"Liara, are you crying?"

She nodded but gave a weak smile in return. "Just promise that you'll be safe, for my sake…and Shepard's too."

Tali grinned. "I give you my word." She started up the small ladder and released the locks to the hatch, whipping it open to let the chilling airs blow inside. "Don't look so sad, guys," she assured. "We're all going to make it out of this just fine."

"Good luck, Tali," Liara whispered.

"See you on the other side," Garrus added.

"Good luck, Liara. Be well, Garrus. I'll see you again very soon." Tali gave her friends one final, sad smile before she raised herself up and out of the Mako, gasping as the cold assaulted her frail body. Taking a few cautious steps, she edged over to the side of the tank and hopped off with a tiny squeak. As she landed, the snow sunk up to her calves, firmly sticking her in place. With gradual force, Tali managed to extricate herself and proceeded to trudge in the direction of the faintly glowing light in the distance, almost waist-deep in slush.

Even with the synthetic heat weave embedded in her suit, Tali still felt the icy fingers on her body. She shivered, freezing, as she took one agonizing step after another. The cold felt like it was penetrating her skin, wriggling under her muscle and shattering her bones. She rubbed at her arms, wishing that she had the foresight to have brought a thermal coat from the Normandy.

She reasoned that it didn't matter, because the light from the hatch was very close now. Even with the cold slush whipping at her suit and soaking her hood, there was nothing that could extinguish the fire in her heart and the rage that burned within. She let her eyes remain fixated on that lone point, willing her body to continue on before she slowed and froze to death.

Tali wondered if Liara and Garrus were facing the same difficulties as she was at the moment. She wondered if she had made a mistake by not going with them and sticking together as a group but quickly quashed that thought. She had made her choice, she was committed, and she had to see it through to the end.

_I'm here, John. It won't be much longer now. Please be alive. I'm here…I'm here…_

Her foot caught on something and she stumbled. Tali threw out an arm to arrest her fall but it simply sunk through the snow and ended at her shoulder. Grunting, Tali stood back up and shook the sludge off of her, her fingers already starting to feel numb. Alarmed at the tingling sensation in her extremities, Tali tried to increase her pace through the deep snow but quickly exhausted herself, beginning to think that the light in the middle of the storm was nothing but a myth, a phantom that she was fruitlessly chasing in the hopes that her prize lay just beyond.

With a wrenching cry, Tali took another step but halted as her foot noticeably felt ground a few inches higher. She looked down to find that the snow was more solid here and that she could proceed at a greater velocity in this area. Thanking her good fortune, she fiercely smiled as she took a few more steps onto the harder surface. Its consistency was a more icy mix, but it still made for easier traveling. Tali almost leaped for joy until she saw a dark shape through the cloud ahead, pushing aside the snow with its mere presence.

As she cautiously proceeded forward, the storm parted enough for her to see the snow-streaked hatch just a few meters away. With the wind billowing at her frame, Tali held herself close as the hatch clanged shut, allowing a figure from outside to walk straight out, the cold seemingly having no effect on them.

Tali's teeth began to chatter but she was not entirely sure that it was the cold doing that to her. Trembling on the spot, she could only stand as the mist dissipated to let Grevel through, the mandibles of her mask parted in an evil smile.

It was an expression of complete and utter satisfaction.

* * *

_**A/N: Ah, finally. Slogged through these last few chapters to get to the point where we are now so it was all worth it.**_

_**I'm going to enjoy writing this next part. **_

_**Are you all ready?**_


	9. Chapter 9: Violent Natures

The blistering winds zipped by their faces, threatening to slash at their bodies from the ice being whipped around. Tali felt snow start to accumulate around her boots but she stood perfectly still, gathering condensation as she watched Grevel stare at her impassively. The joints of her suit creaked and frosty edges began to crawl up her visor, clouding it.

The more she looked at the masked turian though, Tali could feel her shaking begin to subside. Her toes ached as they began to warm and her fingers cramped from the heat blossoming inside her. Tali bared her teeth in a snarl as the sight of this cocky person enraged her directly to her core. Hate flowed through her freely and she let it consume her fear, burning it out of existence.

In that moment, she forgot what had been done to her on Anhur. She forgot dangling by a rope in the middle of a musty room while a shadow cackled over her. She forgot the terror that had revealed the weakling buried inside of her. All that was left was only anger.

Grevel held out her arms slightly in a mock greeting, the wind snapping her coat around. "Welcome, Tali'Zorah. Your performance in getting here quickly is admirable. I must commend you for getting this far."

"Where is John?" Tali growled, Grevel's congratulations going ignored. She wiped at her visor and shook the condensation off her hand.

"Inside," Grevel said in amusement. "Still alive, too. Fear not, quarian, for he is not in any mortal danger. I haven't even begun to work on him like I did with you."

"And you won't _get_ to that point," Tali snorted. "I'll stop you right here before you will ever lay another hand on him."

Grevel threw her head back and laughed, holding her belly as the raucous noises quickly died in the wind. "You are certainly just as determined as I remember you!" she crowed. "I like that about you, Tali'Zorah. You're a _fighter_. You don't settle for less and you go out and reach for your goals instead of lying down and giving up."

"Seems to sum me up perfectly," Tali said as she quickly drew her shotgun from her back in one fluid motion and fired, the blast ripping through the snow towards Grevel.

Grevel, having seen the blow coming, dived to the ground, her shields catching some of the impacts. They fizzled where they had been shot but she stood up, unharmed. From her large coat, she drew out a suppressed pistol and fired at Tali in quick succession, her finger a blur on the trigger.

Tali threw herself behind a snowdrift and yelped as a few shots passed through the slight embankment, creating red hot trails in the white matter. Grevel soon paused to eject the spent thermal clip, causing it to burn a hole through the snow, which was when Tali leaned out of cover, prone, and fired the shotgun again.

The brunt of the blast caught Grevel in the chest and she grunted as she was pushed back a few feet. Incredibly, she still managed to remain standing but her shields were nearly drained. She dug her boots into the icy mix and started to swerve this way and that, avoiding the rest of Tali's shots as she traded bullets in kind.

A patch of snow near Tali erupted as a bullet struck it, sending snow into the quarian's visor. She flinched backward, forgetting that she had been taking cover. As the top of Tali's head poked up from the snowdrift, Grevel fired another expert shot and Tali was thrown forward from the kinetic energy with a cry as the shields on the back of her helmet sparked angrily, reacting toward the projectile aimed at her.

Tali groped blindly at the ground, cruel laughter echoing in her mind as she brought her shotgun to bear. She blinked stars from her eyes and straightened for a second before the snowdrift exploded directly in front of her, caused by an onrushing Grevel who had thrown herself through it to reach Tali.

Screaming, Tali fired, but the shotgun blast cleanly missed as she shook from fear, the unwanted feelings encroaching upon her once again. The anger was slowly dissipating and the cold panic was back in force. Streaked with snow, Grevel swung her arm and knocked the weapon out of Tali's hands violently, causing it to spin end over end until it clattered near the edge of a steep slope marked by heavy boulders. Both of them slipped on the ground and fell hard, but they cushioned from the fall by the snow.

Grevel had lost her pistol when she had rushed through the snowdrift, but was unconcerned at the loss of one weapon when she had plenty more at her disposal. Tali was rolling on the snow, reaching for her pistol at her side as Grevel began to crawl determinedly over to her, her fingers clawing at the ground, scraping at it to propel her towards her prey.

Tali and Grevel stood at the same time but Grevel was the first to react. Swinging her arm, she solidly whacked Tali in the side of the head, who yelled out in pain. The quarian staggered backwards, but Grevel maintained a leisurely pace as she approached.

"Weak," Grevel growled, flexing her fingers. "Pathetic, Tali'Zorah."

Gnashing her teeth angrily, Tali whirled and connected a fist with the side of Grevel's helmet. Tali screamed again as her hand pounded uselessly on the unyielding surface, while Grevel just clacked her helmet's mandibles disapprovingly. The punch had barely moved the turian's head at all.

"Is that really the best you can do?"

"_Shut up!_" Tali roared as she leaped at the monstrosity. Taken aback, the two fell to the ground in a tangled heap, trading blows on the other. Tali had abandoned all reason and began whaling on Grevel with her fists, pushing past the pain as her skin was sliced open underneath the enviro-suit, the blood beginning to pool in the joints.

A stray fist found Grevel's neck and the turian gagged before she brought her cybernetic leg around to push the quarian off of her. Clutching her throat, Grevel got to her knees as Tali flopped on her back, out of breath.

With a flick of her wrist, the long knife embedded in Grevel's gauntlet popped out and she raised her arm as she approached Tali, ready to sink it into her neck. At the last moment, Tali whipped her pistol out, but instead of aiming it at Grevel, she held it sideways above her head and caught the knife perfectly in the trigger guard as it traveled downward, causing it to stick in the weapon.

Grevel growled in frustration and tried to yank the knife out, but the ridged edges of the blade were caught around the trigger, locking it in place. Tali grunted as she held on to her pistol, worried that Grevel would tear it out of her hands entirely. She pulled with all her strength and Grevel momentarily jerked her way.

Tali twisted the pistol in her grip to the side and then backwards. With a shattering noise, the wrist knife snapped cleanly off from Grevel's gauntlet, weakened from the cold and the foreign pressure applied on it. Tali jerked the blade out of the guard and, taking advantage of Grevel's hesitation, lifted the pistol up and fired at Grevel's face. The turian roared as the blast caught the mask full on but did not penetrate the shields. However, it still allowed Tali to bring her legs back and ferociously kick at the armored woman's chest with a surge of energy. Grevel flew backwards, stunned, and Tali shakily got back to her feet, pistol still in hand.

Taking aim at the dazed Grevel, Tali loosed as many shots as her clip had left, watching as the bullets finished off the remnants of Grevel's shield. Aware that she no longer was protected adequately, Grevel surged back to her feet and rushed through the snow at the firing quarian. Grevel yowled as a round caught her in the shoulder, producing fat drops of blue blood that stained the ground below her, but she kept running.

Tali, now alarmed at Grevel sprinting her way, pulled the trigger again hastily but steam rose from the barrel of her pistol uselessly. She needed to eject her thermal clip before she could fire again. Grevel, however, shot out a hand and yanked the pistol from Tali's grip, almost breaking a few of the quarian's fingers in the process, and threw it away. Grevel's hand smoldered from the hot barrel touching her armor, but she paid the heat no mind.

Grevel danced around a hasty punch thrown by Tali and answered with her own blow right into the quarian's solar plexus. Tali made a horrific cry as the wind was forcibly pushed out of her and doubled over, providing the perfect opportunity for Grevel to lift her knee up and crack Tali on her visor, propelling her backwards.

Lying on her back in the soft snow, Tali felt blood trickle out of her nostrils. She could taste the coppery tang on her tongue and mumbled in disgust. There was a tiny spider web of cracks on her visor from Grevel's knee but it had not breached the suit. Still, it worried Tali that her fragile state was being taken advantage of and that she might have made an error in coming here. She tensed her body, preparing for another blow to be made upon her frame, but the seconds ticked off with no further assault. Confused, she rolled to the side and saw Grevel simply standing there, arms at her side as she waited patiently.

"On your feet, Tali'Zorah," Grevel said as she motioned for her to stand. "Get up. I'm not keen on this ending too quickly."

Mumbling a few choice curses, Tali wheezed as she complied, her knees shaking rather badly at this point. "You're going to regret not killing me when you had the chance."

"Doubtful," Grevel shrugged. "You still haven't given me your all today. The best that _Shepard_ could muster was a fight that barely lasted a minute. I'm curious at what _you_ can accomplish. Already you managed to hurt me, which was more than Shepard did. The life of your lover hangs in the balance, Tali'Zorah. Show me how much he means to you!"

_She's toying with me_, Tali thought, but the thought was abandoned as quickly as it had arrived.

Tali bellowed as she yanked her knife from her boot holster before she ran at Grevel. She got to within a foot before she pivoted on the ball of her foot and slashed at Grevel's neck. The turian simply stepped backwards and avoided the blow entirely. Furious, Tali swung the knife in diagonal arcs, trying to catch the blade on any part of Grevel within reach but every time, Grevel would evade the slashes, too quickly for Tali to react against.

Becoming more and more enraged, Tali panted as she steeled herself for another blow, but halted her next move as she fully realized what was going on.

_She's trying to tire me out. She wants me to exhaust my energy so that she can dispatch me with ease!_

Controlling her breathing, Tali turned the knife over in her hand, tip up, as she advanced more cautiously this time. Grevel tilted her head as the quarian's more methodical approach clashed with the series of brazen charges she had just exhibited seconds ago. The change in behavior was puzzling, but Grevel knew that Tali was very intelligent and that she could possibly have gotten wise to her act.

_Oh well,_ Grevel thought, _there's plenty more to do anyway._

Bounding forward instead of waiting for Tali to make the next move, Grevel yanked her fist back, ready to plow it against Tali's helmet, but Tali ducked the blow, lightning fast, and slashed upward with her knife. Grevel could see the flash of steel cut through armor and flesh and she was able to witness the blur of blue as her blood trailed behind the blade. Her mouth gaped open for a second and Tali used that to turn in place and deliver a cut at Grevel's opposite shoulder, a whirling dervish basking in the spilled plasma.

Alarmed and shocked by her wounds, Grevel backed off a few steps. That action gave Tali a burst of confidence, a brief glimpse of the light ahead.

_She can be hurt! She's afraid of me!_

With renewed vigor, Tali gently eased herself through the snow, feeling it weigh down her feet. Breathing heavily, she hefted her knife as she crouched down in a defensive position, her military training running through her head.

Grevel felt the blood drip off of her and watched the quarian pose herself in the manner of a Fleet marine. That brought a chuckle hissing out of Grevel's helmet and she slowly reached across her chest and produced her own combat knife, matte black, and scuffed from prior usage.

"The prodigal soldier…" Grevel mused. "You have _returned_ to me."

With a roar, Grevel bent her knees and leaped forward to engage Tali again.

* * *

The crackle of small arms fire caused Garrus to wince as he crouched behind a stack of pallets. Woodchips sprayed all over the place as stray bullets took pieces off. With a deep breath, he waited for a lull in the enemy fire before he jumped across the empty middle of the hallway to land behind a few heavy containers.

The entire facility was comprised of the same standardized materials as the off-world colonies frequently used, which meant drab grey floors, walls, and ceilings. The underground portions were stabilized with extra beams running across the ceiling for support, which did not add much to the looks department.

On top of that, the new residents of the base had so little time to unpack that the majority of the halls and rooms were piled with so much stuff that it made a simple stroll down the hall hazardous. If it weren't for the motion detectors that had been installed on his armor, he would have gotten ambushed five minutes ago from the enemies taking cover behind the myriad crates.

That being said, in those five minutes, both Liara and him had managed to traverse twenty meters into the base before they were summarily fired upon. The enemy soldiers were well trained in the aspect that they were not stupid enough to come running out of cover to try and take them unawares, which made progression agonizingly slow.

Adding to the confusion was the fact that, at the onset, there was a fork in the path that diverted to either the left or the right. Cautious about their chances, the both of them took the right path, which deposited them into their current position: pinned down in a narrow hallway by troops with no room to maneuver whatsoever.

Garrus fired blindly around the corner and grimaced as incoming bullets narrowly hissed by him. Liara did the same, holding her back to the wall as she held her submachine guns akimbo, eyes wide from the heat of battle.

"We're not going to get anywhere if we continue down this path!" Garrus yelled over to her.

"I noticed!" Liara yelled back. "We're wasting too much time."

A grenade clattered near Garrus feet, glowing red. Quickly, he surged forward and threw it back over his head, hopefully near the sender. A muffled boom and a scream of pain sounded, causing a momentary silence to fall over the hall.

"You'd better go check out the other path," Garrus said as he slammed a fresh clip into his assault rifle. "I'll hold them off here and see if I can make some headway with these guys."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"What choice do we have? At this rate, we're building too much risk by being stagnant. We have to find Shepard quickly!"

"Agreed! But how do you propose that I get out of here? We're pinned down, in case you haven't noticed."

"Got a fix for that," Garrus grinned as he shifted his weight. "I'll cover you, _go!_" Leaning around the side, Garrus yelled as he loosed his rifle down on full auto, feeling the kick of the weapon buck against his shoulder. He adjusted his aim continuously, spraying every cover point so that the CAT6 soldiers would remain too timid to poke their heads out.

Liara wheeled out of her hiding spot and double-timed it down the hallway. No one was able to fire in her direction and she made it past the choke point with ease, disappearing around the corner shortly after.

Now all Garrus had to do was take care of these guys, but the thought was easier said than done. The soldiers were not taking any chances of running out into the open and Garrus did not have an idea of how many were left standing. A few minutes ago, he thought he detected four separate bursts, but ever since he threw the grenade, there had been no more than two at a time. Of course, Garrus couldn't assume the best, he had to suspect that there were four bad guys lying in wait beyond the series of crates.

Perhaps it was simply time to flush them out.

Priming a flash-bang, Garrus leaned over and threw the sphere behind him in a backwards motion, making sure to give the device plenty of spin. He counted to five silently and at the instant he heard a distant bang, like the name suggested, Garrus wheeled out of his cover and towards the screams of pain. Two seconds before he reached the intersection, Garrus put his weight on his heels and went down on the floor, skidding across the smooth surface as he angled his body to the right.

It turned out there were still three of the guys, one on one side and two on the other. Garrus, thankfully, had been pointing towards the side with two guys on it, both still stunned from the loud noise and the bright flash of light. Midway through his skid, Garrus lifted his rifle and his first few bullets caught a man under the chin, blowing out the back of his throat. The guy behind him had only started to recover, but his weapon was pointed at an angle that indicated that he was expecting a foe to come running out, not _sliding_ out. As a result, the return fire passed over Garrus' head and into the man on the opposite side, a trio impacting on his chest, throwing him to the ground.

Garrus continued to fire just as the man realized his fatal mistake. The human's helmet shattered in a mix of metal and brains as Garrus' bullets ricocheted around inside, essentially exploding the mercenary's head. Picking himself up from the gore-laden ground, Garrus barely had time for a breather before enemy fire erupted from another hallway around the corner, pinging off the nearby walls.

The turian barely had time to spot the mass of troops headed his way before he sprinted across the hallway to the door in the corner. At his rate of travel, he almost smashed into it at full speed before the motion detectors finally were alerted to his arrival and quickly slid open, causing Garrus to topple to the ground painfully.

Gasping for breath, Garrus lunged for the door controls, barely ordering it to lock from the inside before muffled blows sounded from the hallway. Quickly, he backed away from the door, worried that the metal separating him from the mercenaries was about to be hacked open very soon.

Fortunately, to Garrus' immediate right, there was a grating for the air conditioning system that looked perfect for his size. He hooked his fingers around the thin covering and with no effort at all, pried it off and threw it to the side. He glanced down and checked to see if the passage was clear. It looked dusty and was pretty dark but clear of enemies.

Garrus dropped to his knees, about to crawl through when the atmospheric hum of the room finally caused him to turn around in curiosity, wondering exactly what was making that noise in here with him. He stood back up and cocked his head as he finally realized what the console, ablaze with lights and figures, was detailing. A diagram of a power reactor shone brightly on a large screen and an icon winked on the console, awaiting a command.

Even from this distance, Garrus could read the bright red letters "AUXILIARY POWER CONTROL" all the way over on the screen. Heart in his throat, Garrus raced over to the keyboard, hoping that he could act in time before the mercenaries broke their way into the room.

* * *

The clone stood in the corner, her arms crossed while Shepard grunted in pain on the table. She analyzed and watched the human thrash about in his delirium, his maimed leg doing all the torturing on her behalf. The quarian stepped forward, drawn to this…repulsive creature. What was it about her that made her drawn to this man genetically? Was it just defective traits? The result of nature imparting an alternate course? The clone just stared a foot away from the table, taking in every feature on Shepard's face.

Sweat pouring down his skin, Shepard tilted and spotted the clone standing just next to him. He followed with his eyes the shape of her body and looked directly into the dark red visor that the quarian possessed, draped by a grey hood.

"Tali…" he moaned out, very much in pain.

The clone stiffened at the name. "Do not call me that," she said forcefully. "I am _not_ Tali'Zorah, Shepard. I may be her genetic equal, but I share nothing in common with that woman."

Shepard blinked in confusion, apprehensive at the clone's words. "Why would you think that?" he croaked. "Why do you hate her so much? Why are you angry at the one whose genes you carry? You're just as much equal as her."

"How I feel is not meant to be rationalized," the clone shook her head. "You wrongfully think that I should bring logic into the equation and see that I have no reason to be in conflict with you. Unfortunately, Shepard, that is not the case."

"But…why?"

"Because I was _created_ to hate you," the clone said. "I was created to hate _Tali'Zorah_. I was never meant to be a perfect copy, just a tool designed for one specific purpose: to obey the orders of my master."

"Grevel?" Shepard coughed. "What do you owe her? She brings you nothing but pain and yet you continue to follow her."

The clone audibly sighed. "I see what you are trying to do, Shepard. You think that because of my faults that Grevel manages to find grievance in is enough cause for me to be itching to join your side? Wrong again, Shepard. Grevel, although her methods can be sometimes medieval, acts accordingly to my mistakes because I am genetically prone to operating outside of my set parameters.."

"_Your_ mistakes?"

"Yes. A clone with accelerated aging like me will never reach their full potential, unfortunately. My personality quirks such as speaking out or voicing my opinion are glitches in the cloning process. Mistakes in the copying process, you see. I know I am supposed to be obedient, but I cannot help but think contextually as Grevel so fears. Tiny personality shifts that cannot be initially detected are gradually revealed over time and Grevel does what she thinks is necessary to suppress them in me. It's what I am designed for, to obey."

"At the cost of your individuality?" Shepard pleaded. "You realize that you're not even living a full life yet you want to continue on your current path? You actually _want_ just to be a drone that mindlessly follows orders?"

"And you could offer me something better?" the clone countered, her head cocking in amusement. "Fix my errors and finally create the perfect copy of Tali'Zorah? What sort of a life could I do with that? A flash clone like me is designed to age so rapidly that my internal organs will fail within the next five years. They weren't designed for long-term use, flash cloning doesn't work like that. In order to have gleaned a fully matured clone, the Broker and Grevel wanted results quickly at the cost of my operating life. Could _you_ offer me a longer life, Shepard? A whole new identity? What could I get by coming with you? How could I even fit into a 'full life?'"

"There…are ways," Shepard whispered as he trembled on the bench, the omni-cuffs keeping his limbs glued down. "It's in your nature to be complete, I can see it! If you come with me, I'll do everything in my power to save you. You can be able to grow old…fall in love…have a family…"

The quarian looked back at him, watching his eyes never leave her gaze. He was not blinking and she could not even find it in herself to smirk. She leaned over Shepard and her hip brushed the edge of the table, peering at him intently.

"What you suggest…" she whispered, "…is impossible."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because I can tell when you're lying, Shepard. You offer a fresh start, but you and I both know that I am beyond saving. Truthfully, I have no desire to do anything beyond my set mission because of my genetic programming. I will simply lose all direction after I see it completed and I will then die. My death has always been inevitable, Shepard. As has yours."

Shepard didn't move a muscle on his face, his chiseled jaw firmly set. He gave a solemn nod at the quarian's honest statement before he glanced at something beyond her, saddened nonetheless.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he spoke softly before he yelled, "_Now, Liara!_"

The clone whirled to the door just in time to see an armored asari level a burst of azure energy her way. As she turned, her holster brushed the edge of Shepard's leftmost cuff on his hand, allowing him to grasp the grip of the clone's pistol and yank it out. The biotic push caught the quarian dead on and threw her across the room, knocking her breath out with a _whufff!_

At that very moment, the lights abruptly darkened for a split second before a dim series of emergency lamps engaged. The room was cast in a twilight glare, shadows spilling out of the corners. Shepard sat up and looked down to see that the omni-cuffs had miraculously disengaged. Feeling rejuvenated, he held the clone's pistol aloft and struggled to turn around in place.

"_Warning_," an automated voice blared. "_Main core is offline. Auxiliary power is now engaged. Recommend generator reset._"

"Shepard!" Liara called. "Are you hurt? Are you all right?"

"Liara, watch out!" Shepard warned, still cradling the pistol in his palm, his mangled leg and right hand aching. "I can't see the clone from here!"

With a strangled yell, the clone suddenly sat up from behind the table Shepard was sitting on and thrust her hand out. From her palm burst a fiery red ball that sped on course towards Liara. The asari cried out as the tech blast electrocuted her, producing uncomfortable tingles all over her body. Her fingers twitched uncontrollably, causing her to drop the submachine gun she was currently carrying.

She barely had enough time to stand up straight when the clone rushed at her, enveloped in an orange glowing tech armor now while raising an omni-blade around her left arm. Liara ducked the blow and the blade sliced through the door, causing the surface to sizzle as the wiring was cut within. Liara summoned her energy and channeled it out in another push but the clone leaped aside, the blast narrowly missing her.

About to make another attack, the clone suddenly hissed and roared as her tech armor sparked, reacting to the bullets that Shepard fired from his position on the table. He held the clone's pistol in his non-dominant hand, the recoil pushing the barrel up uncomfortably but the shots were accurate regardless. Too far away to react and without any firearms, the quarian spat in fury and rushed out the door, leaving Shepard and Liara alone.

"Shepard!" Liara cried as she began to move over to him.

"Don't worry about me!" Shepard waved her off. "Catch the clone! I'll be fine here."

"Are you sure?" the asari asked, her face fraught with worry.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly mobile, but I can fight. By the way, where's Tali?"

"Off looking for you," Liara said, a dark possibility coming to light but one that went unvoiced. "She's…nearby."

Shepard's face fell in shock as he detected the hesitation in Liara's voice. "She's gone to fight Grevel, hasn't she?"

"I…" Liara shook her head. "I…honestly don't know…"

"God _damn_ it," Shepard breathed as he hit the edge of the table with the butt of the pistol. "Tali's facing Grevel to protect me. God help me, I don't think I've ever deserved that woman…"

"She's doing it because she loves you, Shepard," Liara assured. "She's doing it because you mean _everything_ to her."

Shepard scrunched his face up as all his fears pooled at the bottom of his chest. He clutched at his heart, feeling its pained beat as he tried not to imagine the worst. He took a ragged breath and simply gestured for Liara to get a move on. "You'd better finish off the clone, then. The sooner you take care of her, the sooner we can find Tali."

"I'll be quick," Liara nodded breathlessly. "You have my word on it."

Bending down as she hustled out of the room, she scooped up her fallen submachine gun and ran in the direction the clone had taken flight. There was only one singular corridor that led in the direction that Liara was traveling, which seemed like the logical place to begin searching. Breaking out into a faster pace, Liara spotted the door at the end and pursued the fleeing clone through it.

However, she wheeled to a stop as soon as her boots hit the gantry. Liara now found herself atop a series of catwalks, suspended above the embedded element zero core that housed the power to the plant. Arcs of electricity cast beams of light on her and there was a sizzling noise as the entire structure groaned.

"_Auxiliary power online_," the intercom reported. "_Main core stabilization required. Power fluctuations reported_."

With the power core improperly diverted in favor of auxiliary power, the element zero was still producing energy, but it was not being distributed throughout the base. All of the connections had been shut to allow the alternate supply access. As a result, the blue-white glow doubled in intensity, creating beams of lighting that spread further than the protective shielding encased over it. It was not an overload but it was still a terribly unsafe environment.

Realizing that she had been distracted, Liara frantically looked down the catwalk and spotted no one in the vicinity. There were no signs of life on the level below her either, so where had the clone gone to?

A vibration in her boots made Liara turn around just in time to see the clone drop down from the piping, having stuffed herself up there knowing that the asari would follow. Quickly, Liara mustered her energy and laid down a singularity between them, the miniature black hole warping matter in front of their eyes.

The clone quickly tapped a command and she remained rooted in place, untouched from the singularity's gravitational pull. Despite the fact that the nearby railings were being wrenched out of place, the magnetic soles in the clone's boots kept it rooted to the grating, regardless of how powerful the singularity was.

As soon as the biotic attack dissipated, the clone deactivated her boots and sprung towards Liara. The asari barely got off a burst with her submachine gun but the clone ducked and delivered a perfect spin kick that impacted precisely on the weapon, spinning it out of Liara's hand and down into the core. Standing back up straight, the clone activated her omni-blade again and slashed downward, barely grazing Liara's arm as she sliced through the nearby railing.

Liara splayed her hands out and soon the clone was wreathed in an azure glow, finally held in place from the asari's stasis field. The quarian grunted against the invisible grip, struggling to free herself to no avail. Liara panted and fished the last of her strength out, looking to warp the clone out of existence when the quarian's tech armor rang shrilly and a bolt of electricity raced out, catching Liara in the chest. Letting out a yell, she flinched and the warp attack fired up into the ceiling instead, disintegrating a portion of the multitude of pipes and causing several pieces to rain down on the pair. With Liara stunned, the clone was able to shake free of the stasis field, her blade shining wickedly.

"Reactive tech armor," the clone growled. "Detects biotic attacks and provides appropriate defense measures against them. What's the matter, Shadow Broker? Did you not see that one _coming?_"

The clone punctuated her final word with a lunge, aiming at Liara's heart. The asari dodged but was too slow to escape the blade's biting edge. Liara felt something sharp on her arm and saw her blood fly through the air in horror. The clone growled in satisfaction at the look of shock on Liara's face.

To Liara, the reality of the situation only now came to light. The familiar body shape, the deceptively familiar voice, that same look in her eye, it was all reminiscent of _Tali_. Liara raised her fist to strike a blow at the quarian, but could only see Tali in her eyes for some reason. Even though she knew it was a clone, the very idea of _killing_ someone like Tali was unthinkable.

The clone, however, was not wrapped up in that kind of conundrum. She did not have the mental conflict that Liara was going through, which made it easy for the quarian to slash her blade down, opening up another wound on Liara's side.

The asari gasped and flared her palm out, producing another biotic burst, but it was weak and barely fazed the clone. Ducking and weaving around Liara's back before she could even react, another slice from the omni-blade caused a line of fire to erupt on Liara's body. She fell to her knees, her armor soaked in blood and lifted her head up, her eyes silently begging.

"Tali…please…"

"_Do not call me Tali!_" the clone screamed as she grabbed Liara's head and savagely threw it against the guardrail. Bashing her head against the metal, Liara very nearly passed out and blinked as her blood began to run into her eyes from a cut on her scalp. She couldn't lift a finger to protect herself in her position, which meant that she could do nothing as the clone ferociously kicked at her stomach, pushing her off the catwalk and down towards the core below.

The moment of free fall was short lived because Liara felt her back flare with pain, along with an audible snap from her ribs. She groaned helplessly, knowing that she had fallen too quickly to have made it to the bottom in such a short amount of time. Her vision going haywire, she could see the clone standing triumphantly on the gantry above her, the omni-blade still extended. Liara then realized that she had simply been pushed down to the next level, still above the core.

Coughing helplessly, Liara twitched as she lay on the ground, willing her ruined body to stand.

* * *

Steel clashed on steel, throwing up sparks between the two knifes. As the blades grinded together for a few seconds, Grevel shoved and Tali sprawled out on the ground, coating her in a fine snowy powder. Standing above her, Grevel flipped her knife over and over again, using it as a metronome while she waited for Tali to get up.

"You're better than this," she growled at the quarian. "I know that you can still fi- _arrrgghh!_"

Tali had executed a leap from the ground and had twirled in mid-air. Her knife slashed across the back of Grevel's hand and she yelled, not from the pain, but from the rage that she had been duped so easily by the quarian. Grevel dropped her knife and Tali advanced, ready to sink the blade up to the hilt in Grevel's body.

Grevel sidestepped and hurled her arm forward. The armored gauntlet caught the edge of Tali's knife and it slipped free of her grip. It fell to the ground and the duo's scuffling feet buried it in a few inches of snow. Now free to attack, Grevel plowed her right arm into Tali's gut, producing a series of wet coughs, and she swept the quarian's feet out from under her, jerking Tali down on her back yet again.

But Grevel still refused to land a blow on her when Tali was defenseless on the ground. Still she persisted in letting Tali continue on with the fight, enjoying herself far too much to stop. Amused to no end, she laughed as Tali clutched at her stomach, but still groped to find her footing, lifting herself up on shaky legs.

The mask's red eyes gazed thoughtfully into Tali's white ones. "You don't give up easily, do you?"

Tali just chuckled at that, despite her wounds. "As long as there's still a fight going on, I'll _never_ give up, you _bosh'tet_."

"I don't doubt it," Grevel admitted. "But, I believe it's time for the stakes to be escalated. What do you say? Shall I bring your human out here so that you can watch him freeze to death in the cold? Would that be the appropriate incentive to make you finally give me your damnedest?"

Tali's reply was only a guttural yell, a roar so loudly that she thought it could split the sky. She rushed at the hateful creature, her arms outstretched, ready to throttle the turian into submission. But Grevel turned at just the right moment, throwing out her left arm to impact directly on Tali's visor, barreling her over so hard it threw her legs into the air.

As she fell, Tali saw enormous chunks of purple glass fly up into the sky, glittering from the snow. There was an uncomfortable draft on her face, chilling her skin and producing a horrible realization as she continued to tumble. She eventually flopped face-down on the ground, moaning as she nudged the shattered remains of her visor, feeling tears start to form as she breathed in the air of Xawin. Pleas for forgiveness formed on her lips, all directed at Shepard as she realized that her fate had just been sealed.

Watching the whole thing, Grevel just laughed.


	10. Chapter 10: Masks Off!

Her nose filling with the stench of ozone, Liara groaned as she tried to get to her feet. She grasped at a nearby railing but her hand, slippery with her own blood, simply slid off and made her fumble momentarily. She tried again, more frantically this time and was able to secure purchase, heaving herself to as she tried to compress the cut on her chest.

Sweat dropping off of her, Liara let out a wet gasp as her legs ached, desperate for respite. She wobbled uncertainly, feeling faint. Her blood was now painting the railing as it dripped down her arm, coloring it a darkish red. Liara winced as she activated the medi-gel application on her suit, feeling her cuts begin to congeal from the insertion of the salve. Despite the stemming of the blood flow, Liara knew that the medi-gel was only barely holding her together as she still had several internal injuries that the substance could not fix on its own. She needed to finish this _now_ before her wounds took their toll.

The grating clanged and Liara spun around in shock. Standing slowly back up, the clone's knees straightened as she recovered from jumping two stories up to land on the next catwalk. A fall like that should have broken bones but the quarian had landed on her feet without injury. Her omni-blade was still engaged but in her free hand, she now held a long knife, much longer than a combat knife but shorter than a saber by half. Her breath hissing quietly from her vocabulator, the clone pounded forward, holding her weapons in front of her.

Liara was still too badly wounded to mount a biotic attack, so all she could do was backpedal wildly as the clone advanced. Sensing fear, the quarian ran forward and lunged with her omni-blade while simultaneously slashing horizontally with her enormous knife. Liara skirted around the omni-blade and threw up a hand to block the quarian's other arm, preventing the knife from decapitating her. Something inside of the asari was grating horribly and she coughed, causing her lungs to put pressure on her ribs which flared from the pain.

Ignoring her definitely cracked rib, Liara pushed past the discomfort and yanked at the clone's arm, spinning her around. The quarian was thrown against the guardrail, bending her back over it. Also affected from her sudden move, Liara sagged against the opposite guardrail, out of breath as her knees buckled underneath her.

The clone was still fresh with energy and rebounded from the blow but Liara still was on the verge of collapsing and needed more time to recharge. Raising the long knife up high, the clone swung downward, intent on cleaving the asari's skull in two. At the last moment, Liara rose and threw her hand into the quarian's stance, deflecting the blow. Unfortunately, the knife only slid a few inches off target and Liara screamed as the knife bit into her scalp and she twisted away in pain. She collapsed to the ground, the movement wrenching the knife out of the clone's grip and sending it clattering on the grating.

Instinctively, Liara kicked out, catching the clone's leg and thumping her to the floor soundly. The quarian grunted as she made contact with the ground, momentarily stunned. Liara, distraught, wiped blood out of her eyes deliriously, her entire vision turning red. The long, ragged cut on her head sluiced her life down her face, coating half of it in a red mask. Liara was shocked to discover that her blood was _hot_ on her face, almost feeling like it was burning her. It stiffened around her features, caking her and cracking whenever she breathed.

"A lucky break," the clone muttered as she got back up. "But the next blow _will_ kill you." She stalked forward, arm outstretched to place the omni-blade through the back of the asari's throat, until everything flashed by in a whirl.

Angrier than she had ever been, Liara had looked up to find the clone's knife sitting right in front of her, out of sight of the quarian. Snatching it up and turning in a blind rage, Liara scythed the blade through the air and it met skin and bone, spraying the ground with blood redder than hers.

The clone yelled in shock as she saw the dripping cut on her arm. Her wide eyes blinked in disbelief behind her mask and Liara twisted the knife in her grip so that she was now holding it backhand.

Watching the clone's reaction, Liara grinned. "Your suit's breached, Tali."

"Do not…" the clone growled, "…call me…" she lowered her stance and rushed forward, "…_Tali!_"

The two blades of different compositions met briefly and sparked against the other. Liara leaped back and cut down, hoping to expose more of the quarian to the atmosphere, but the clone met every blow with renewed vigor. Spinning in rage, the clone became a whirlwind of orange light as she spun her omni-blade around, looking for a place to make a direct hit.

With a ferocious swing, Liara knocked the omni-blade aside with the knife and with her other hand, landed an open-handed strike on the clone's chest. Something snapped within the quarian, the sound of bones breaking echoed in the chamber, and she coughed, coating the interior of her visor with blood. Desperate to keep the upper hand, Liara threw a punch with her hand containing the knife and the clone flew backwards from a blow to the head, denting her helmet out of shape.

"You…little bitch," the clone wheezed. "You're going to regret that very much."

Liara wiped more of her own blood off of her face as she took the moment to rest, cautious about approaching the clone. The two women clutched at their wounds, one staring at the other in hatred, the other with acceptance. For the longest time, they did not move, both awaiting the other to strike first.

"Whenever you're ready," Liara whispered, praying for the ache in her side to dissipate.

The clone teetered, then charged, barreling over Liara onto the metal supports. The knife that Liara held sunk into the clone's leg as she made contact, but the quarian was too doped up on her combat high to even detect the pain. She straddled Liara, holding her blade to the asari's throat before she raised it up to make the final cut.

Abruptly, there was a slight whistling noise and then a howl of pain. Liara opened her eyes and was surprised to see the clone reeling back, clutching the stump of her left hand, which was now inexplicably gone, cut off at the wrist. A small object lay next to her, oozing blood all over the grating and Liara stared at the severed hand in shock.

But standing to the side of the clone, wielding a bloody knife of his own, was someone whom Liara initially thought was a hallucination, that this outcome was not possible in any way. And yet, the armored figure of Garrus Vakarian stood triumphantly between the two, also breathing heavily, but victorious nonetheless.

The clone hunched over in pain, tightly squeezing her remaining hand around her stump in an effort to cease her suffering. Blood spurted out from the wound and Liara could see a faint knob of chillingly white bone peeking out. The sight disgusted her but it gave Liara the chance she had been waiting for.

Seizing the moment, Liara clenched her teeth and a final blast of biotic energy exploded from her fingertips, impacting precisely on the incapacitated clone. The force was so great that it shattered the quarian's visor, producing shards of the blood-red glass tinkling onto the ground. The clone shrieked in agony, unable to clasp her hand over her face as she was thrown through the air, towards the edge of the platform.

The clone landed awkwardly on the edge of the guardrail, a horrendous snapping sound resounding as the quarian's right arm shattered from it bending at an awkward angle. Moaning in pain, the clone slid down and sagged over the railing, her center of gravity slowly pulling her over the lip.

In a moment of clarity, Liara shot forward and grabbed at the clone's remaining hand as she began to fall, keeping her suspended over the power core. She cried out as the clone dangled, deadweight above the abyss. The quarian's head was tilted downward, most likely passed out from the amount of pressure being exerted on her broken arm.

"Liara!" Garrus yelled. "What-?"

"Garrus, grab hold of me!" Liara shouted. "I can't kill her!"

Flabbergasted, Garrus balked. "There's an easy solution for that: just drop her!"

"No!" Liara screamed as she began to slide. "I don't _want_ to kill her! It's _Tali_, Garrus! I can't kill Tali!"

Mumbling a curse, Garrus quickly grabbed hold of Liara's leg and positioned himself between two metal posts on the catwalk. He threw his leg against one to provide an anchor and grunted as he kept the asari from joining the quarian over the edge.

Liara's hands clasped around the clone's three fingered one. Numbly, the quarian looked up, blood welling from cuts all over her face and she blinked as she saw the asari trying to save her. Liara's mouth dropped open as she saw the grey face beyond the broken visor. The young features were delicate and smooth, now marred from the cuts to the face, but they showed a youthful side to the woman. The glowing white eyes were full of confusion and tears clung to the edge, threatening to spill. The quarian's mouth was agape, breathing raggedly but it reinforced all of her pain and sadness all at once.

Caught up in the moment, Liara was stunned at the quarian's appearance. _Is this what Tali looks like? She...she is prettier than I ever could have imagined._

But gradually, the sorrow in the quarian's eyes hardened and her mouth turned into a snarl as she pushed past the blinding pain to understand that she was being saved by the person she had been trying to _kill_. Liara gasped at the cruel face, shocked that such a beautiful person could make such an expression of hate. The asari now glanced at the quarian's fist she had in her clutches and stared somberly as a building orange light began to emanate from the palm. The ball of fire grew in intensity, a miniature sun that sparked with fury within, projecting inches away from Liara's face, bathing her with the deadly light.

Liara had all the time she needed to do what was necessary to avoid the tech blast, but her fingers felt glued to the quarian somehow, as if she was physically unable to kill the clone outright, even if it meant her death too. She locked eyes with her, as if she was silently confirming that this was the path the quarian had chosen. The white eyes held no hesitation, no regrets, but just blind rage.

Garrus then had the fortitude to glance over and he gasped as he saw the clone about to unleash her tech attack in Liara's face. Yelling frantically, he jerked Liara's leg back and she slid back over the grating, but the quarian's fingers finally slipped out of her grip from the sudden movement.

Liara stared emptily down, watching the clone fall for what seemed like an eternity. The clone did not utter a word the entire time, finally disappearing as she fell into the blinding light from the suppressed element zero core. The maze of electric bolts consumed the quarian whole, producing a plume of smoke and Liara knew right then that the clone was dead.

Garrus soon joined her in looking over the edge and he breathed out in relief. He looked at Liara's half-bloodied face and gave a tiny chuckle. "Spirits, Liara, you look terrible. Had I known you would have had your hands full with the clone, I should've stayed with you the entire time."

Groaning, Liara just touched her face numbly, wincing as her glove still came away red from the cuts welling on her face. "She _wasn't_ Tali after all," she whispered. "The Tali I know never hated a person without purpose. This one was just a vessel of rage."

"Probably for the best that it's dead," Garrus mused as he helped Liara to her feet. "Did my distraction work out for you at all?"

"You mean the power diversion?" Liara said as she limped forward. "It got the clone away from Shepard, which was all that…oh, _Goddess!_ I almost forgot about Shepard!"

"Ah, don't worry about it," Garrus said as he draped one of Liara's arms over his shoulders. "He was doing fine when I passed by him a few minutes ago. He's in good spirits, considering all that he's been through."

"Okay…" Liara nodded. "But after we meet up with him, you need to go find Tali." She clutched at her rib with a grimace. "I'm not stubborn enough to deny that I'm too banged up to continue. She's still alone out there and we haven't seen Grevel at all. I'm worried about her, Garrus."

"I don't know," Garrus said thoughtfully. "If you've ever seen Tali want something very badly, she is going to fight like hell to get it."

"I realize that perfectly, but what if Grevel can match Tali's best?"

* * *

Something cold was flitting across her face. It was wet and fluffy, which made Tali tremble. She had never felt such an extreme sensation before and the intensity of the cold wind seemed to suck all of the breath out of her lungs.

The tears around her eyes were stiffening, starting to freeze, and her nose was starting to run. Sniffling as she tried not to think of Shepard, Tali pushed aside the pieces of her shattered visor and gently unclasped the seals of her mask, letting it fall to the ground so that she would not be surrounded by pieces of broken glass. She dazedly slipped her hood down and also removed the rear portion of her helmet, knowing that it was too late for her to be restricted now. She tore the vacuum tubes off from the helmet and dropped it down before she plucked her knife back up from the ground and steadily got to her feet.

_I'm sorry, John. I'm so, so sorry. All I wanted was to see you one last time._

Her black hair whipped everywhere from the wind, some of it flying into her eyes. They hid the few tears that had made it past Tali's defenses and she felt her face turn hot, despite the freezing cold. Through the fluttering strands, she could see Grevel still standing across from her, having retrieved her own knife while Tali had been lying on the ground.

"What will you do now, Tali'Zorah?" Grevel asked. "Will you lie down and die, or will you continue to fight?"

Tali brushed her hair out of her face, her skin feeling bone dry from the snow hurtling against her face. She shook, feeling her arms prickle from the cold, and she could smell the crisp air flowing through her nostrils. She took a deep breath of the subzero atmosphere before she found a reserve of heat and let it spread throughout her, keeping her extremities warm.

_I thought I could hold my own._

"I don't have any choice," Tali replied. "I'm dead either way, right?"

"It would certainly appear that way."

"Then I won't hold back," Tali growled as she sprinted at Grevel at full speed, the fastest she had ever run in her life.

In two seconds flat, she had closed the distance between her enemy, her knife beginning to travel upward from her hip. She envisioned slicing Grevel open from groin to sternum, watching her blue guts slide out in a steaming pile on the snow. Grevel pushed off on a foot and evaded the deadly blow, but Tali continued to raise her arm up and the knife raked across Grevel's forearm, opening up yet another wound.

Grevel roared and Tali yelled in response, spittle flying from her mouth. The turian swung her arm and it clocked Tali firmly on the side of the head but she dug her feet in the ground and did her damnedest not to go down. A tiny trail of blood began to trickle down the back of the quarian's head but Tali gritted her teeth, sparks flying from her eyes.

Lunging forward to try and spear Tali through the throat, Grevel jolted in place as Tali quickly activated her tech drone between them. Grevel had built up so much momentum that she destabilized the drone as she shot past it, but its deactivation triggered a reflexive electric shock that flashed through Grevel, causing her to sink to her knees, her armor smoking.

Tali raced forward and threw herself at Grevel, hooking her arms around the turian's neck. With her knife, she began to viciously saw at the neck plating of the turian's mask, cutting through hydraulic lines and sensitive electronics. Grevel was still too stunned to properly react but at the sound of Tali's knife biting through a gas hose, the turian finally snapped out of her paralysis and bodily threw Tali over her head, screaming obscenities.

But Tali had already done her work. She had cut through the electronics that controlled the lenses of the mask as well as the voice box. It also was now sagging at an angle to the side a bit. Frustrated, blind, and out of options, Grevel hooked her free hand around the bottom lip of her mask and tugged hard, ripping out the last remaining wires and hoses that attached the mask to her neck. With a grunt of disgust, she threw the mask away and it clattered off a nearby ledge, useless to the owner now.

Tali's breath caught in her throat as the livid turian stared back at her. The mandible-less and scarred face bared its teeth in hate, drool dripping down the exposed jaw. The tiny cybernetics lining Grevel's forehead winked on and off, and the turian's bloodshot left eye never left Tali, fixated on her face, the veils having been lifted for the both of them.

The unpainted face of the turian breathed in the air for a bit, the cold seemingly not even fazing her before she growled menacingly. "And now we're even, Tali'Zorah," the shockingly faint voice uttered.

Grevel's voice, unfiltered from the mask, was low and husky, distinctively feminine, but deathly quiet as if she had not been speaking for years. Tali reasoned that the mask must have amplified Grevel's damage vocal cords by artificially increasing the volume while simultaneously changing the pitch. Even so, she was not prepared for the hideous mercenary to be so deathly quiet in real life.

"No," Tali spat. "We are not _close_ to even, you bitch. Not after what you've done to me. We will be even only _after_ I'm standing over your corpse on the ground."

Watching Tali, Grevel lowered her eyes and lifted her mouth as best she could into what was an unmistakable smile, the first one Tali had seen the turian actually give. "A true _warrior_…" Grevel rasped.

With a scream, both of them rushed toward the other at the same time, blades at the ready. Tali, at the last moment, dropped to her knees and used the decreased friction to slide on the snow while she slashed at Grevel's side. Ignoring her new cuts, Grevel kicked Tali in the small of her back, propelling her forward harshly. She moved forward and slammed her feet on the ground, trying to crush the quarian's skull, but Tali was too quick as she rolled to a safe place, standing up when she was out of reach.

Frustrated at her inability to touch the quarian with her own knife, Grevel sheathed her weapon and lowered her head before she bodily executed a running tackle, throwing her fists out to catch Tali around her center of mass, causing them to roll down a nearby slope in a heap.

Panicked, Tali sliced her knife down across Grevel's face but the turian pushed past the pain. In a last-ditch effort, Tali stabbed Grevel in the shoulder blade but the turian twisted in mid-roll, the knife sticking in Grevel's flesh. The turian did not even seem to detect these wounds and abruptly threw a fist down in a hammer motion as the two of them skirted dangerously close to the edge of a nearby cliff. Tali shrieked as her collarbone snapped, Grevel's fist having caught it perfectly on the downswing.

With a kick, Grevel shoved the wounded Tali away from her and the quarian quickly felt the sensation of nothing on her lower torso. Realizing what that meant, she dug her hands into the ground and hooked them around an anchored boulder as her legs swayed over the cliff, an abrupt terminus to the ground that she had previously been standing on.

The pain from Tali's collarbone was so intense that she nearly let go, on the verge of tumbling down the rocky incline to her death. Tears streamed down her face and she cried out in despair as she felt her fingers began to slip off of the slick rock. Inch by inch, they slid more and more until Tali was certain that she was about to let go, until a hand snaked down from above and wrapped itself around her neck.

Tali gagged as the three fingers holding her throat constricted, lifting her up from the cliff. She pounded her fists uselessly on the armored arm, fighting to break the grip that had been set. Spluttering, Tali coughed weakly as Grevel stepped back from the cliff, suspending the quarian in the air as she easily held her aloft.

Grevel rotated her wrist, examining Tali's face very carefully as she watched the quarian begin to lose consciousness. Her breath frosting in the chill air, Grevel squeezed tighter and watched as Tali's frantic blows steadily became weaker as she rapidly lost consciousness. Her struggling was ceasing and Grevel laughed.

"You put up an admirable fight, Tali'Zorah," Grevel panted. "But you had to know that it was always going to end this way. Your hate was not nearly enough."

Still being choked in the turian's tremendous grip, Tali let out a strangled string of noises, her eyelids drooping heavily.

"A final word, Tali? Spit it out, then. I wouldn't want your death to be any less tragic than it already is."

Opening her eyes again, Tali wheezed as she tried to inhale, her nostrils flaring. Barely moving her jaw, she spat out, "_You…talk…too…much_."

Clenching her left fist and opening it again, the electrodes in Tali's gauntlet flared to life from her preset movement. Grevel stared in horror as the electricity sparked blue in the white blizzard and screamed when Tali clamped her hand on the turian's wrist.

Consumed with energy, both Grevel and Tali shrieked as the lightning danced from one person to the other. Grevel dropped Tali as she began twitching and Tali convulsed on the ground, simultaneously coughing from her windpipe suddenly becoming unrestricted. Her enviro-suit was not electric-proof and she spasmed uncontrollably as the smell of cooking flesh filled the air. However, she managed to switch the gauntlet off by clenching her hand into a fist and sighed in relief as the pain faded, the cold cooling her wounds.

Groaning, Tali attempted to sit back up, but a shadow fell upon her and pushed her onto her back, causing her to sink into the snow. Grevel raised an arm, blotting out the sun above, and shot it down towards the quarian. Tali barely had time to see the knife in Grevel's fist and shot her arms out to halt the trajectory of the blow, her actions stopping the knife mere inches from her chest.

Tali whimpered as her collarbone ached, the stress grating on the damaged nerves. Grevel could see the fear in Tali's eyes and snarled, fighting with the quarian to bring the knife down. The turian was much stronger and slowly but surely, the wicked point began to continue downward, traveling inch by inch towards Tali's chest.

"No!" Tali moaned, the muscles of her arms aching. "No…please! _No!_"

Grevel, for once, did not respond with a taunt. Rather, she grunted and pushed harder, agonizingly bending Tali's elbows back. The blade was only three inches away from Tali now. Melted snow dripped off of the black surface but both combatants were drenched in hot sweat and blood.

"Please, don't!" Tali begged, her eyes helplessly watching fate play out in front of her. "Please…_please_…"

Tali felt like her arms were going to snap off as she pushed with all her strength. She could feel every cord, every bruise, every solitary fiber in her body. And all were screaming for mercy. She began to hyperventilate as the knife brushed the tip of her suit, starting to fray the fabric from its ridged edges.

A feeling of peace strangely came over Tali, and she wondered serenely into the cloudy sky. Snowflakes fell on her face, the feeling cold and wet but it made her feel very alive in that moment. She saw her breath mist into the air and watched it mingle with the snow, finding it to be very beautiful.

Her gaze drifted back down and spotted the angry face of Grevel, mouth in a snarl as she fought to push her blade down. However, Tali's eyes flickered to the right a bit and spotted something sticking out of Grevel's shoulder. It looked suspiciously like a hilt and blue blood dripped freely off of it, making Tali ponder where it had-

_My knife_, Tali realized in shock, the answer lying right in front of her.

Abruptly, Tali's grip slackened and Grevel fell heavily down on the quarian. There was an infinitesimally long second where nothing happened and then the most painful sensation Tali had ever experienced ripped through her. The agony was like nothing she had every experienced and she could not even utter a word for her breath had been drawn out of her. She could feel her blood spurting out from the wound, her own heartbeat tearing her apart. The cold knife felt like ice within her in contrast to the magma pulsating within, a final well of energy for her to tap into.

_Kill her! Kill her now!_

Driven by all her terror and rage, with blood streaming down her front, Tali sat up and quickly yanked the knife out of Grevel's shoulder, to the turian's astonishment. Quickly, Grevel pulled her own knife out of the quarian's body to strike again but Tali didn't even feel the pain that time. Instead, Tali's arm became a blur as she sliced the knife through air, moving so fast that she seemed to split time itself. There was a brief moment of resistance and Tali suddenly became drenched in a warm substance, making her gag. Despite the fire in her chest from the stab wound, she rolled away from Grevel and looked over when she had gotten to safety.

Grevel gagged, her eyes clenched shut in pain, as she grasped at her slashed neck. The turian's blood spat forth in a steady beat and Tali could see wet muscle and ragged tubes from the deep cut in Grevel's throat. The snow steadily turned blue below Grevel and blood spewed out of her mouth, something inside her hemorrhaging. Within moments, Grevel became splattered with gore and Tali could only watch in astonishment, her own wound feeling like a smolder in comparison.

But Tali's eyes dropped to the ground, as she had uncovered something when she had rolled away and scraped off the loose layer of snow. With desperate fingers, she grabbed at Grevel's suppressed pistol and lifted it up, shaking the slush off of it. Less than two meters away, Grevel spotted Tali holding the pistol and her eyes widened in horror.

Retching up blood, Grevel barely had enough time to choke out, "Ta…li…" before the quarian pulled the trigger. The pistol report was surprisingly quiet, the open air swallowing up the noise as soon as it sounded. There was only a slight kick to the gun, the feeling a bit anticlimactic.

Grevel's head exploded as the high-powered bullet hit her directly in the forehead. The top of the turian's head flew off as her skull shattered into a million pieces, allowing her brains to geyser into the air. The remaining pulp splattered in waves around the turian's body, and the headless corpse finally collapsed to leak blood onto the ground.

The pistol tumbled out of Tali's grip and she let out a deep sob in relief. The stab wound in her chest throbbed and she held her hands over it, an unexpected paralysis coming over her. She took one final look at Grevel's body before exhaustion came over her and she flopped down on her back, weakly coughing.

Flecks of blood appeared on her lips but she felt too tired to do anything about them. The snow was clinging to her hair and chilling the back of her neck. Her chest still felt like an eruption was continuously ongoing and she whimpered as she kept her blood-stained hands glued over the deep wound.

She stared up into the sky thoughtfully, wondering if an infection or the knife would claim her first. She disregarded such macabre thoughts in favor of ones with Shepard. She pictured his smiling face from the last time they had laid in bed together, remembering the sensation of closeness and love from his tender embrace. She wanted to desperately feel that again, for every second he was with her, she felt complete, whole.

She would have liked to have done so much more.

"I'm…sorry…" Tali whispered, feeling at peace from the gentle snow upon her skin.

Despite the coldness, Tali felt sleepy. Her eyelids fluttered and she looked up at the sky a little bit more. She wondered if she was imagining the whiteness growing in intensity, or that it was merely her own imagination playing tricks with her vision. Whatever the reason, it felt to Tali like a warm blanket had been thrown over her and that she was carefully being bundled for a nice long rest.

With a final, conscious breath, Tali drifted away.

* * *

_**A/N: Whoo! That was a hard chapter to write. I've got some traveling in the days ahead so the next chapter might be a little bit delayed. (Key word: might)**_

_**I'm also going to make an important announcement in the next week or so within this story so keep your eyes peeled for whatever it might entail. You never know, you might find the news exciting or disappointing.**_


	11. Epilogue: More Than A Friend

Ten days later – The Citadel

The door to the apartment rushed open and Shepard hobbled his way into the spacious living room, Liara right behind him. The transition from the bustling wards to the quiet bungalow provided a much needed dose of auditory relief and the silence fell upon them like a blanket.

Shepard leaned on his custom-made cane as he yawned loudly. He shrugged off his jacket somewhat awkwardly and threw it onto the couch. His entire right hand still felt a little raw, despite the work the doctors did of reconstructing his finger bones, but he was able to grip objects without that much difficulty. His leg, however, was another matter as the damage it sustained was so severe that it couldn't all be fixed at once. The compound fracture had been so violent that the initial surgery was incapable of repairing all the damage at once. This was just an injury that he would have to look after for the time being and it would help ensure that he would not rush into a foolhardy situation anytime soon. Truthfully, Shepard should still be interred in the hospital but he had made enough of a scene that he was able to secure his freedom away from the sterile hallways to a place more comfortable.

Careful not to put too much pressure onto his bad leg, he took tiny steps as he made his way through the expansive place while Liara walked over to the kitchen. She set a few grocery bags down and began to stock the fridge while Shepard stood silently, pondering to himself.

Concerned, Liara looked at him. "Do you want me to make you something?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Shepard murmured, distracted.

"Do want something to _eat_, Shepard?"

"Oh," Shepard said after a few seconds. "No thanks, Liara. I'm not that hungry."

Liara just sighed in amusement. The wounds on her body had finished healing days ago but it was still tender for her to breathe; the memory of the flaring pain from her cracked rib had been giving her a good amount of hesitation the entire time.

"So you mean to tell me that you've been having hospital food for over a week and you're not dying for a decent meal in the very least? When they released me four days ago, the first thing I did was rush over to the nearest food court. I was _starving_."

"Right now I'm _tired_ more than anything," Shepard said, yawning for good measure. "I guess all I want to do right now is sleep."

"Then I won't hold you back," Liara said as she shut the door to the fridge. "But I insist on coming by later tonight to bring everyone dinner."

"Garrus too?"

"Garrus too," Liara smirked. "He can rib us all later for getting tremendously banged up while he didn't sustain a scratch on his body. It'll make for some interesting commentary."

Shepard shrugged as he made a motion of obviously looking down at his leg. "Ah, well. I can't get lucky all the time, right?"

"Guess not," Liara chuckled. "So, I'll be back here in the evening with food. Hopefully you'll be awake by then and we can all have a nice quiet evening where we can just sit and talk."

"My life has been lacking a lot of those nice quiet evenings, to be honest," Shepard said thoughtfully. "That sounds excellent, Liara."

"Perfect," Liara beamed before she quickly dug around into the pack on her side and withdrew a data tablet and placed it on the kitchen island. "Before I go, you might want to take a look at this."

Shepard shifted his weight on his feet. "What is it?"

"Well, I had a lot of free time so I decided to do a little digging into the Broker's files – the _old_ Broker's files. It turns out that he had hidden a small stash of information that was protected by several-," Liara paused as she saw Shepard's eyes glaze over. "You know what? That part doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact that I managed to uncover an unusually detailed dossier and I thought you might find it interesting. The tablet is programmed to open to the dossier in question whenever you want to peruse it."

"A dossier?" Shepard's eyebrows rose. "On whom?"

"One 'Teyrna Avantus,'" Liara replied grimly. "But, that is not the name we knew her by."

Shepard nodded solemnly. "_Grevel_," he whispered.

Liara gazed at Shepard before she slid the tablet a little bit further. "Just something that might interest you." She walked out of the kitchen and turned towards the door before she stopped in place. "Do you need any help in getting up the steps, Shepard?"

Shepard stared at the staircase that led to the second story and paled for a very short second before he regained his composure. "That…that won't be necessary," he said, his mind pondering how he was going to pull this off. "I bet I'll be able to tackle them on my own."

Liara just crossed her arms with a knowing smile. "I'll just wait here until you've made it. Just so I can confirm that you didn't break your neck today."

"Appreciate the vote of confidence," Shepard scowled as he lifted his good leg up onto the first step and slowly brought his bad one to match.

There was actually little pain in the feat but it was dreadfully slow work. Taking one step after another for two feet at a time was proving to be more of a hindrance to his patience than his actual disability. Regardless, he managed to make it to the top without any additional agony, but with the added bonus of a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"Made it," he gasped, trying his hardest to look proud when in fact he was about to collapse from exhaustion.

"So you have," Liara grinned from the first floor as she turned to go. "I'll leave you be now. See you later tonight."

"See you," Shepard said as he walked up to his bedroom door. The miniature sterilization unit hummed and blasted, performing a brief and sloppy decontamination before allowing him access to his bed.

The temperature was a few degrees warmer than the living room and Shepard's shirt was off before he even reached his mattress. He leaned his cane across a nearby chair and tugged at his pants. They were a special design that allowed easy removal if they were pulled in the right way and soon they joined the shirt at the foot of the bed. Now clad in his boxers, Shepard gingerly rubbed at the hard cast that encased his knee, temporarily immobilizing it. He tried not to imagine how ghastly the wound looked underneath the surface and conceded that it was probably best if he did not know. All he knew right now is that he was alive and that the person who did this to him was definitively dead. Modern medicine could fix a crippled leg but it still was not able to mend a decapitation. Tricky endeavor, that.

The covers were loose on his bed so it was pretty easy for Shepard to swing his legs up and slide them underneath the sheets. He took a few seconds to properly orient himself, mostly making sure that his head was in a comfortable position against his pillow. Once Shepard was satisfied that he was tucked in just right, he sighed out in relief just before he felt a hand gently slide into his grip from the left, a sensation of three smooth fingers against his skin.

Heart pounding happily, it seemed to take forever for Shepard to turn his head, but when he did, Tali's smiling face quickly dissipated any initial fears he harbored. She, like him, was also tucked tightly in bed, but she also happened to be outside of her enviro-suit, which Shepard could see folded meticulously on top of the dresser beyond the quarian. Her black hair splayed around her pillow and her face quickly transitioned from uncomprehending drowsiness to lucid glee in a very short time.

"You're back," Tali croaked, tears beginning to fill her eyes.

Without verbally responding, Shepard turned to the side (making sure not to hit his knee on anything) and grasped at Tali's head before pulling her towards him for a kiss. The deep exhales from their noses denoted their desperation and relief, and their lips gently parted and converged several times over. Both made muffled noises of passion throughout their kisses and they reluctantly parted after a minute, already longing for more contact.

Shepard still held Tali's head in his hands as he smiled happily. "Tali…" he whispered. "You wonderful woman. I'm so very _proud_ of you."

"For what?" Tali asked genuinely, her fingers tracing around Shepard's chest. "Killing Grevel?"

"For bringing me back," Shepard clarified, his smile only getting wider. "You risked your life to save me and you succeeded on all counts. I…I don't think I would have been that brave, facing off against that monster like you did."

"It could be mistranslated as _stupidity_ instead of bravery," Tali smirked. "I was driven primarily by emotion back there so I don't think that I planned things out all that well, to be honest."

"I'd be willing to argue with you there on that front."

"I only did what I thought was right, John. I…" She was interrupted by a tiny cough but her pained expression looked to Shepard like she had just gotten impaled. Alarmed, he felt Tali's forehead for a fever.

"No," Tali waved him off weakly, but with a smile. "It's…it's fine, John. It's just my wound that hurts."

She gestured down so that Shepard could see exactly what was bothering Tali. He now noted that, instead of her recognizable enviro-suit, Tali appeared to be wearing a loose white shirt and pants that looked like standard hospital wear, wrinkled from having spent the entire day in bed with them. Tali tugged down the collar of the shirt a bit and Shepard could see the faint outline of a sling wrapped around Tali's left collarbone, holding it in place. But more prevalent was the enormous white bandage taped over the middle of Tali's chest, covering a large portion of her grey skin.

Shepard couldn't think of anything to say so he leaned forward to kiss Tali's cheek instead. She murmured happily and pulled the collar of her shirt up. "I think these clothes were meant for humans," she remarked flippantly. "They're a little baggy over my arms and they don't really meld well with my legs."

"Is that the worst of it?" Shepard asked as he drifted the conversation back, cautious. "Your injuries, I mean. Do you need anything for the pain, Tali?"

"They've got me on painkillers," she reassured him. "And some medicine for the cold I received from being out of my suit."

Shepard blinked, nonplussed. "You mean that you were out of your suit for a while and all you got from that was a _cold?_"

"Yeah, actually," Tali nodded. "I completely forgot at the time that the majority of bacteria and pathogens that exist cannot survive in subzero temperatures. Xawin was an effectively sterile environment for me - at least _that_ area was - so I didn't get deathly sick. Actually, I think that I might have picked up the cold from when I was carried onto the Normandy by Garrus, come to think of it."

"Yeah, Garrus brought me up to speed when I was getting prepped for surgery a few days ago. He mentioned that you were released two days before I was, is that right?"

"I didn't feel like going back to the liveship but I couldn't think of anywhere else to go," Tali grinned as she patted the bed. "Besides, I needed a place to rest and recover so Liara helped me get set up in your apartment."

"Well, I'm not complaining," Shepard shrugged. "Did your operation go okay?"

Tali made a face as she tested her shoulder. "They set my collarbone but it still feels a little stiff. I'll probably be back to my full range of motion in a few days. The stab wound," she paused somberly, "was a little trickier. It turned out that the knife just slightly punctured one of my lungs and that there was a lot of internal bleeding. They mended it with cautery and stitches…after vacuuming my lung. I think it's safe to say that I'll always have a scar from that wound now."

"It won't be that bad," Shepard said as he began to brush Tali's hair with his fingers. "You're one of the toughest people I've ever met. You'll be back on your feet in no time."

Tali smiled from both the praise and the grooming but sadly shifted her gaze down to Shepard's leg, hidden by the sheets. "And what about _you_, John?" she asked. "You were injured about as badly as I was. Are you doing okay?"

"As good as I can manage," Shepard admitted as he adjusted his leg on the mattress. "I'm not sure if I will be able to run a marathon after all my operations are completed but my knee should be reasonably repaired over the coming month. I think I'll be fine."

Tali did not look convinced. "That's awful," she whispered as she slowly shuffled her body so that her side was touching him. "What…what are you going to do about it? Aren't there some way you can get your leg fully working again?"

"There probably are," Shepard mused, "but the options presented to me were a little too intrusive to my liking. Cloning, cybernetics, the usual. I'd rather have them work with the bits they already have versus me getting more artificial crap stuffed into my body."

Tali held a look of concern on her face. "John…" she began, "that's going to hamper your military career, don't you think. I mean, soldiers get wounded all the time and you've accumulated enough of them that it should have killed you a hundred times over but now you're not going to be at one hundred percent after this. Do you really think you'd want to continue with the injury you've sustained?"

Shepard shrugged. "Actually, Tali, staying in the Alliance was just a way to keep me busy all these years. It provided an outlet for my work ethic so that I wouldn't be bored all the time. Frankly, I'm not all that interested in continuing down that path anymore. I'm actually thinking about pursuing other interests and I believe that this injury has given me my out."

Tali did not notice that her breathing had escalated but she did notice when Shepard's hand squeezed tighter on hers, matching her grip and strength. "But…" she stammered, "what will you do now, John? You've been in the military for a long time and… I mean, that's a pretty big transition. Do you have a plan after you leave or something _resembling_ a plan?"

"Oh, I don't know," Shepard sighed dramatically. "This is not the sort of decision that I've made lightly, but I've got an idea of where to go from here. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do after I muster out but…" he grinned mischievously, "I'm sure it will all be easier if I had someone by my side to share the experience with."

Tali and Shepard turned their heads at the same time, the latter with a knowing smile on his face. Tali gaped for a second before she glanced up at the ceiling in mock thought, the tips of her fingers beginning to play with Shepard's hand.

"So…" Tali said slyly. "You're saying that if you weren't lonely, you would be more confident about making this decision, am I right?"

"Just about," Shepard bobbed his head.

"And," Tali continued, "you would prefer to be with someone you knew instead of a complete stranger. Someone you could have complete trust in." She bit her lip. "Although, there are many people that you trust completely, now that I think about it. How could they be differentiated between each other so that you could only pick one of them?"

"They can't," Shepard admitted as he snaked his arm behind Tali's neck, propping her head up a bit. "But I've already decided whom I would like to join me. This person has a certain…spark to them that connects us both. However, I don't want to pressure them into doing something that they don't want to go along with. They must desire this as much as I do."

"And whom might that be?" Tali arched her eyebrow with a smile. "This person you're referring to."

Shepard laughed and fidgeted knowingly. "Well, let's see…I've known them for many years. Been with them through some tough times but also have made some really good memories with them. In fact, because of how much time I've spent with them, I'd go so far as to call them my best friend."

"…And?" Tali asked eagerly.

"They've been a great companion the whole time I've been with them," Shepard continued in a light tone. "Even when things were at their worst, they somehow pulled me from the brink to make me see the hope they possessed. This person someone I've admired for a while and always put my faith in. They have never disappointed me once, not a single time."

"…_And?_"

"And…" Shepard deliberately paused as he pretended to think of the correct words to say, "…and they've been someone that I've _loved_ the whole time. There has never been a day that has gone by without me thinking of them, wishing that I could see them again. When I finally did get that chance a few days ago, that was the happiest I've been in years and it made me realize something. I want more memories like that. I don't want to spend the rest of my life longing for better days. I want to have my best friend close by again."

"Oh," Tali sighed explosively, her frantic eyes pleading, "just say my name so that I can _kiss_ you, you _bosh'tet!_"

Shepard's laugh was straight from the belly and he gently stroked Tali's face with his hand. "And…I _love_ you, Tali'Zorah."

The next movement from Tali went by in a blur. She mustered her energy so that she rolled from her position on her back to on top of Shepard's chest, her petite body supported by his firm frame. With a ravenous hunger, she pressed her lips against Shepard's and froze in that position, true to her word. The kiss was fierce and hard, but it was sweet and emotional at the same time. Both of them surrendered themselves to the other, drowning out the outside world so that they could be the only singularities inhabiting their tiny capsule of time.

Tugging at his lower lip, Tali parted, faint trails of tears running down her face; some from joy, some from another sensation.

"_Ow_," Tali winced as she pressed a hand over the bandage on her chest. "I shouldn't have moved so quickly."

Incredulously, Shepard stared at Tali in amusement and both started laughing raucously at the same time. Shepard had to turn his head into his pillow to stifle his laughs while Tali shook from his vibrating chest atop him.

"Oh, Tali," Shepard breathed as his chuckling died down. "Now I _know_ I've been away from you for far too long. You're starting to put me over your personal health again."

"_Screw_ my personal health," Tali panted. "I'm going to take every advantage of being near you now because you've _always_ been worth it. You know that I would _die_ for you, John, so I'm going to live as much as I can when you're around. Because I love you just as much as you love me."

"That sounds definitive to me," Shepard beamed as he rubbed Tali's back. "So, what shall the first thing that we do together be? Is there anything that you want to do on the top of your head?"

Tali tilted her head in thought, her eyes slowly scanning the headboard for inspiration before a sudden inclination fell over her, one that made her feel like gravity was weighing heavily on her and that she was going to be crushed if she struggled further.

"A nap would be a start," Tali yawned, her head already beginning to droop. "After that…who knows?"

"We'll make it up as we go along, then," Shepard said as the back of his head hit the pillow. "Story of my life, it seems."

Tali slowly slid forward to supply Shepard with a gentle kiss on his lips before sleepiness fell upon her and she lowered her head onto Shepard's bare chest. Both of their arms loosely embraced the other and Tali smiled as her body rose and fell from Shepard's deep breathing.

"Sounds good to me," she murmured, as happy as she had ever been. Within seconds, the spell of slumber fell over the both of them and soon the only sound in the room was the quiet snoring of two souls in peace.

* * *

_**A/N: Thus ends The Reengaged and concludes the two-story arc started with The Disengaged.**_

_**Some plot hiccups notwithstanding, I had a good time writing this story and playing around with the AU elements. It's a lot more liberating for me to create an original story rather than be bound by the formulaic structure of the games. (Of course, that stance is probably because I've already gone over the games so many times that I can't think of anything else to write during that time period).**_

_**However, along with my author's notes that I'll present in the next week, there will be a little bonus chapter that comes next. It will be different from the tone of the story but I am writing to share a few unused ideas that I had during this story's development while presenting them in a narrative form. It won't be revolutionary but some of you might find it intriguing.**_

_**But now that I've finished this story, I have an announcement to make. I've spent almost whole year now of writing Mass Effect fanfiction and I've immensely appreciated all the warm support I've been given. Writing for this community was rewarding, fun, and altogether inspiring. It was a great place for me to hone my writing skills and gain the confidence to try something different with each new installment. Today, I say to you all that I now want to try something different. For the past few months, I've been researching other franchises and ideas, weighing multiple options for where I wanted to continue in the future and I believe that I have a good idea of where I want to proceed. **_

_**With that being said, I will be retiring from the Mass Effect franchise (not indefinitely - anything is possible) and I will make my next story from another science fiction franchise that is considered to be one of the most important series in all of video games (despite it having a smaller fanbase than Mass Effect). How long I will stay in this new franchise is up in the air, but I want to get more practice before I write an original story that I have in development. That original story is what I consider to be my ultimate goal and writing fanfiction has been the perfect stepping stone for me to gradually put my ideas into motion. When the next story debuts is unknown at this time, but I don't consider my departure from Mass Effect to be definite. I'd guess that, one day, a new idea will arrive and that I will want to act on it accordingly. Not now, but definitely later.**_

_**After all, I will always have a soft spot for our friendly engineer Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. It's been a rewarding experience writing a character like her and I hope that I get a chance to return again to write a story with her in it. What harm could come of it anyway? As Tali would undoubtedly say: "Totally worth it."**_

_**You've all been a tremendous audience and I thank you for your support. It's been my pleasure to be here.**_

_**Stay classy, everyone. (Couldn't resist ending on a quote, no matter how cheesy it sounds!)**_

_**-Rob Sears**_


	12. Dossier: Teyrna Avantus

Document created in 2182 – Authentication Code CLOCKWORK

_The following is an excerpt from Lieutenant Commander Avantus' service record signed by her commanding officer in 2174._

"Headstrong, yet thoughtful, Lt. Cmdr. Avantus is among the rare breed of officers that show ambition but also respect for the chain of command. Her dedication and ruthlessness to any task she has set is just the kind of mind we need for high pressure scenarios. Her inevitable promotion to Commander will be just the kind of inspiration for what it takes to succeed through sheer force of will. Will eagerly keep an eye out for her in the future."

* * *

Written by Witness – Supervised by SB

The above quote was one of many commendations that Teyrna Avantus received throughout her military career in the Turian Navy. Her peers remember her as a quiet, but determined leader, one that did not mince words while maintaining a strong moral compass. A good solider, intelligent and talented.

Born in 2149 to a modest businessman and his wife, Avantus did not experience the typical childhood that most turians were accustomed to. Not technically in poverty, but not well off either, Avantus spent most of her early years in space, requiring her to become home-schooled instead of being shipped off to one of the many academies on Palaven. The training she received from her parents was radically different than what the rigorous coursework on her homeworld would have engrained her with. Avantus' parents taught her to respect authority by recognizing the natural order of the galaxy and adhering to it strictly by recognizing exactly where she belonged in her environment.

Her parents also gave Avantus a more cultural view, one less xenophobic than the traditional turian youth. All forms of life were to be respected in the Avantus household and each person was to be considered as a separate, but equal entity. From these teachings, Avantus became a very insightful and perceptive turian as she grew, always hungering for more knowledge while thoughtfully maintaining her view of right and wrong.

Perhaps it was her parents' guidance that prevented Avantus from forming a clear opinion about the Relay 314 Incident. Eight years old at the time, Avantus was not angered at the presence of the humans but rather fascinated, intrigued at the knowledge that there was a new species to be discovered. Like her parents, Avantus remained neutral about the entire conflict during the three months it transpired and was somewhat relieved that both her people and the humans managed to make an uneasy truce, despite the loss of life, for it represented a clear step in the name of galactic progress rather than dissolving into blind conflict.

Most likely drawn from her natural work ethic, with her parents' blessing, Avantus enlisted in the Turian army at age fifteen and was subsequently drafted into possible candidacy by commission due to her high test scores. Avantus would eventually earn her commission by passing the physical and mental tests with ease, automatically becoming accepted into the planet's most prestigious academy. In five years, Avantus graduated and earned the rank of ensign as a result which included a posting on the cruiser _Indomitable_.

Despite the advantageous position, Avantus would become distressed throughout her tenure at her colleagues' treatment of other species, particularly of humans. Collected reports show that Avantus was subjected to mild hazing due to her defense of humans, despite the collective opinion of her shipmates stemming from the 314 Incident. Avantus remained steadfast, however, and her view on other aliens was not dissuaded, regardless of the additional pressure.

The more progressive captain of the _Indomitable_ recognized the qualities in Avantus and took her under his wing. This resulted in rumors of favoritism from Avantus' peers, but her exceptional performance in her duties managed to derail any of those notions before they could become fully fledged. As a result, Avantus flourished while on the _Indomitable_ and her efforts and dedication impressed a visiting admiral so much that he lobbied for her to join his own crew, to which she accepted.

By 2175, Avantus, now a full commander, was the XO of the _Repressor_, one of the most powerful warships in the turian fleet. By this stage, she had built up a reputation for being strict with her subordinates, but also clever enough to gain their unquestionable loyalty. In over fifteen separate pirate raids, Avantus never lost a soldier on a mission and she was beloved for her cautious but firm attitude. Rumors were abound at this time of her gaining her own ship within the year, no doubt a fine reward for someone who took their duty to heart each day. Some would say that she even took her job too seriously but comments like these were always taken as compliments by Avantus. Her version of doing what was right was performing her duty to the best of her abilities, and her uncanny sense of right from wrong had never failed her before.

Ultimately, a time would soon come when Avantus' beliefs would be questioned. While on patrol in the Terminus Systems, Avantus and her squad accidentally encroached on a human settlement and had angered the property owner with their presence. Avantus had apologized to the owner and promised to move off the land as quickly as possible but two of her squadmates, still angered from the 314 Incident (despite the fact that they never participated, being too young) were overcome with emotion and began to assault the human in front of his home. Avantus tried to maintain order but the two turians refused to listen, even going so far as to assault the human's daughter when she entered the fray to save her father's life.

As soon as the human girl was struck, Avantus flew into a fury. She yanked a squadmate off of the male and knocked him out with one blow to the face. The other squadmate, the one who struck the daughter, was hit by Avantus so badly that his arm broke. Eventually calming down, Avantus requested for an evacuation while apologizing to the humans for the behavior of her subordinates.

Unfortunately for Avantus, the turian whose arm she broke happened to be the son of a noted admiral in the fleet and he demanded answers for the injury. The reports made by Avantus and the son did not match up as the son had changed to story to better reflect himself. An inquiry was hastily put into action but the humans that had been in the middle of the assault were never bothered to be questioned, which could have saved Avantus a great deal of trouble. Therefore, Avantus was put on trial and it was ultimately through the intervention of her captain and the crew of the _Repressor_ standing up for her which convinced the jury that the son had been lying. The son was dishonorably discharged and Avantus was cleared of any wrongdoing, but she now had a black mark on her record and any buzz about an upcoming promotion soon vanished entirely.

Frustrated by the bureaucracy, Avantus had been communicating with the female human, Sophie Haines-Perez, and kept her updated throughout the entire ordeal. Avantus used her funds to help Sophie and her father recover and the two of them eventually began to form a friendship. Avantus would frequent Haines-Perez during her shore leave and the two began to grow close. Avantus did not mention her relationship with anyone because xenophobia was still very high in the turian military and she thought that such a revelation would considerably hamper her chances of promotion even more. After a year had passed with no progression in sight, Avantus became disillusioned with the military and began to consider mustering out altogether.

By this time, Avantus had built a house with Haines-Perez on a remote planet in the Terminus Systems and planned to settle down there with the human. It can only be speculated that the two wanted to forge a stronger connection between the other and that living together would have been an ample first step. Fate, as it turned out, would have other plans.

Alerted by a message from Haines-Perez, Avantus went AWOL during a mission to travel back to her new home. She arrived to find the homestead burned to the ground and that Haines-Perez had been brutally tortured and left to die, quickly expiring in Avantus' arms. Unbeknownst to Avantus, the Blood Pack had raided the homestead and lingered nearby, allowing for Avantus to be subdued and captured upon her arrival.

The Blood Pack spent a week torturing Avantus, viciously removing large sections of her skin, subjecting her to violent rapes, and partially blinding her in one eye. A medical diagnostic would reveal that so many of her nerves were damaged from being burned that they were not able to function anymore. Deciding not to kill her and finding it crueler to let the mauled turian live, the Blood Pack deposited her naked body on Khar'Shan, the batarian homeworld, where she was sold into slavery.

The trauma from losing Haines-Perez and being mutilated took a hefty toll on Avantus. Slowly healing in a cell, her damaged mind suppressed most of her memories while maintaining the worst moments of her life. When she was ushered out onto the auctioning stage, the naked Teyrna Avantus looked like a walking corpse, her scarred body not even appearing like a turian anymore. Despite this, a member of the organization, the Dealer, was in attendance in the crowd and bought the turian with the intent of freeing her so that she could become an integral part of the organization.

The Dealer clothed, fed, and tended to Avantus, who remained silent initially. When asked for her name, instead of Avantus, she replied with "Grevel." The origin of the word _gre'vel _is Khelish for "demon of the soul" and it was a word that Avantus had repeatedly heard while confined in the batarian cells. Apparently a crazed quarian captive would not stop repeating the word and it stuck into Avantus' damaged mind. At that point, Teyrna Avantus had finally been killed by the Blood Pack but Grevel was reborn from the loss.

The process of teaching Grevel to function normally again was challenging, but ultimately rewarding. Grevel's broken mind healed quickly and she became accustomed to the work of the organization, accepting her new purpose without any hesitation. It might have been possible that Grevel knew her occupation in the past but it was a point that she deliberately suppressed in order to become another person so efficiently. Regardless, Grevel's training as a ruthless assassin culminated when the location of her torturers was given to her. The mission brief specifically requested clean kills but Grevel deliberately ignored the instructions and brutally tore apart the vorcha that had tortured her. Their deaths were agonizingly slow and Grevel presented her kills without remorse to her commanding officer. Instead of being punished, Grevel was rewarded and given command over a specialized squad.

Years down the road, Grevel has proven to be a reliable asset, one that has never failed a mission. Her inherent sense of right and wrong has caused her to butt heads a few times but her opinions always had facts behind them, making her dangerous with her words as well with her hands. Having mastered almost all forms of combat, Grevel is one of the most dangerous weapons the organization has at its disposal and one it should treat with the utmost care. Grevel has shown that she is dedicated to a set cause so it must be our duty to provide her with one lest she find our resolve lacking.

Witness portion ends here – SB picks up dossier at this point

What Grevel has shown is that she is fiercely loyal to me and the organization. There is no blind devotion as she has repeatedly questioned orders from time to time, but she has always been upfront about her misgivings. It is her skill as an assassin as well as courage to offer alternatives to orders that has allowed me to place my complete trust in her. Traces of Avantus still remain within but the Grevel side allows a perfect blend of the two personalities to coexist, creating a perfect warrior with a calculating mind.

This collection of documents is meant for herself to review, despite her insistence that she is not interested in recounting her past. It is not something that Grevel has to read but that the knowledge that the information of who she was is at her disposal can have a positive effect on her psyche. Grevel is aware of this collection's existence which means that she knows that I'm being upfront with any information regarding her. If she understands that I'm not keeping anything from her past hidden from her, then she will respect me more.

Additional Notes:

Recommend that Operant Grevel handle the Anhur situation. Collectors are getting bolder and they require more difficult subjects to acquire. Will resume collaboration with Na'hesit clan for added efficiency. Grevel should be able to handle the situation alone with ease, even though I would like to send a contingent of troops along with her, but our enigmatic clients are quite demanding and are straining the organization's resources quite heavily. Besides, Grevel has never failed me before.

_See attached documents for additional data._

* * *

**_A/N: This chapter was something a bit different that I wanted to write out. Throughout the two stories, I left bits and pieces regarding Grevel's past around, but I never spelled out her backstory in full. This "dossier" is the outline that I've always had in mind when thinking of Grevel and I wanted it to be a detailed look into my favorite villain to write. Think of this as a bonus presentation so that the audience can understand what I've imagined when writing this character._**

**_I should have the author's notes released in a day or two and then I can get started on planning for writing in a different franchise. Not so sure how that will work out but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless._**


	13. Author's Notes

Working on both _The Disengaged_ and _The Reengaged_ was an interesting experiment for me: to see if I could take all of the elements of the Mass Effect universe and use that information to create separate stories using a few of the characters but implement them in a radically different scenario. In some aspects, they succeeded. In others, they failed. Both do have their fair share of problems, I will admit, but I enjoyed writing them nonetheless.

Perhaps the bulk of the issues that stemmed from several of the situations in _The Reengaged_ was the large gap in between the two stories. Now, had I adhered to my three story outline instead of two, then I would probably be mired in a host of new problems due to multiple issues compounding and what not. In short, I guess I was trapped either way with my outlines which meant that a little more time at the drawing board could have helped. (Shows how far pride can get you, huh?)

Goal-wise, I achieved what I set out to do with regards to the characters. I got to give them all one last mission in a way that I wanted it to be memorable (somewhat). Ten stories down in total, a whole year of writing, and I have no qualms about moving on to other prospects. I believe I've said all I wanted to say concerning Shepard and Tali, and I feel that further continuation would just be rather repetitive on my end. It's time to let others do the storytelling, because I'm done for now.

As I'm writing this, I'm also glancing at my original outline for _The Reengaged_, and it might be laziness talking for me, but there's not much that I can elaborate on for each individual chapter, as they didn't deviate much from my first draft of notes. As mentioned before, I had to bloat the story a bit more after I nixed the idea of a third installment that would have taken place between the two stories that I would later write. Some of these concepts worked their way into both stories and others were simply dropped, most likely resulting in a time disconnect between a few scenes that I had written. It's kind of ironic that I like to compare stories to movies and that, as an analogy, this story suffered from rather sloppy editing that left some readers confused. Perhaps I should make a note of that for the future so that I can look out for it.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I did not write the so-called "second installment" was the fact that Grevel was barely in my outline at all. Now, Grevel was the reason why I started these stories in the first place and my mind was already on this portion even _before_ I had finished the first one. She's probably the most complex OC that I've created and I enjoyed writing her and her villainy, so that meant cruising on ahead and cutting out the second story to streamline the experience a bit more (it would have been kind of predictable, in my opinion). I liked the idea of an unstoppable bad guy that was emotionally scarred underneath, and a female to boot. People really seemed to respond warmly to that idea and I was happy for the chance to subvert audience expectations.

On the other hand, I think it's not hard to assume that the real hero of _The Reengaged_ is, without a doubt, Tali herself. It had occurred to me that, while prominent in many of my stories, I didn't think that I gave her a significant amount of time in the spotlight when compared to Shepard. Now Shepard is the main character, so it makes sense for him to have more "screen time" but the chance for Tali to exert revenge on Grevel in a completely brutal way was tantalizing to me. That meant that I had to shunt Shepard aside and give Tali all the glory by having her do battle with the turian. Those few scenes were the highlight for me as I wanted to exhibit Tali's courage and skill against a significantly more powerful foe and have her come out victorious. We probably all know that Tali is one determined woman and that when something comes between her and her human, then all hell will break loose. Long story short: don't ever cross Tali'Zorah.

I'm blanking out on what to say at the moment so I apologize for how flimsy this last part is compared to the other notes I've made in the past. If you have any specific questions about the story, feel free to ask me (preferably in PMs, for I am terrible with replying back to reviews). My brain got frazzled when I was traveling these past few days and it severely affected my ability to write without succumbing to bouts of laziness. Perhaps it was a good thing that I finished this story up when I did.

As to when my next story in a new universe will see the light of day, I'd say somewhere in the realm of "soon." Admittedly, it's going to be in a much less popular subsection of the site than Mass Effect, but I see it as an opportunity to shine, despite the potentially lapsed feedback. Feel free to hop on over any time you want so that you can follow my interpretation about the origin of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunter: Samus Aran. A boost in views will most likely do wonders for my occasionally inflated sense of self-worth.

I'm looking at my word counter and it says that I only need a hundred more if I'm going to hit a thousand words, so I better think of something to say quickly so that I can make this into the quadruple digits. Maybe a closing could do right about now…

So with that being said, I bid you all a fond farewell and I do hope you enjoyed reading _The Reengaged_, despite some of the flaws mentioned. To me, it was worth it just so that you guys could get access to one more ShepxTali story. It seems that we rarely are satiated when it comes to those two. Unfortunate, that.

Thank you all for your attention, and I hope that some of you will pay my next story a quick visit when I eventually get to it. Who knows, you might even get a kick out of it? Metroid ain't too far off from Mass Effect, in any case. I can't think of anything else to say at the moment so I'll just end with a rousing _Keelah se'lai!_

All the best.

-Rob Sears


End file.
